A heated exchange over Israel and whether a Western woman would feel comfortable living there or elsewhere in the Middle East took place between Bill Maher and Young Turks anchor Ana Kasparian during her appearance on Maher’s Club Random podcast this week.
The debate unfolded during one of Maher’s wide-ranging conversations on the show, where he hosts guests ranging from actors and authors to political commentators. The tension escalated when Maher, who will not describe himself as affiliated with any political party or movement, posed a hypothetical question to Kasparian, who is also unaligned, asking where she would choose to live if forced to reside somewhere in the Middle East.
“Ana, you’ve got to go live in the Middle East,” Maher said. “Where would you live? You can pick one city. You could live in Karachi. You could live in Cairo. You could live in Amman, Jordan. You seem to love Lebanon. Beirut’s nice when the bombing’s not happening and the assassinations have stopped. Or you could live in Syria. I hear that’s wonderful in the summer.”
Kasparian pushed back, noting that Syria is currently controlled by extremist groups. Maher appeared to brush past the comment and continued listing possible locations, including Yemen under Houthi rule, before referencing Israel.
“Tel Aviv or the West Bank — Ramallah, I think, is wonderful in the fall, it gets lovely,” Maher said, before turning his attention to Kasparian’s outfit and pressing, “What city would you live in? What do you think you’d be comfortable in that dress?”
Kasparian snapped back that she would not feel comfortable wearing the dress “in any of the various Middle Eastern countries that have been destabilized.” Maher quickly retorted, “You’re not really blaming it on whitey. You’re blaming Islam on whitey.”
“I’m not blaming Islam on whitey,” Kasparian replied, bristling at the characterization.
The two then sparred over Western involvement in Syria, with Kasparian asserting that U.S. policy — including actions taken during the Obama administration — contributed to destabilization and included funding of extremist groups. Maher repeatedly attempted to steer the discussion back to the cultural implications of everyday life for women, specifically focusing on clothing and personal freedom.
“Terrorism, the White House, jihadism — that is preventing you from wearing that dress there,” Maher said at one point. “Are you saying every Muslim is a jihad? I don’t think they are.” He later added, “If you had to pick, would you rather live in Tel Aviv? Because I promise you, you wouldn’t last a week in the other places, and you could easily live in Tel Aviv. If that doesn’t speak to a difference between cultures and civilizations, then okay, we’ll leave it there.”
Kasparian, a vocal critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current government, acknowledged that her political views might affect how safe she would feel in Israel. She recently faced backlash after an impression of Larry Ellison, the pro-Israel co-founder of Oracle, which some critics deemed antisemitic.
“I think given my very harsh and vociferous criticisms of the Israeli government, I probably wouldn’t feel so safe living in Tel Aviv right now under this government,” she said.
However, after Maher pointed to freedom of speech as a key benefit of life in Israel, Kasparian ultimately conceded his broader point.
“I’m sure a woman of my age who grew up in the Western world would probably feel the most comfortable in Tel Aviv,” she said. “I will concede that.”
Maher responded with a single word: “Wow.”
HiCelebNews online magazine publishes interesting content every day in the celebrity section of the entertainment category. Follow us to read the latest news.
