Bill Maher SLAMS Obama for his 'moral equivalency' on the Israel and Hamas conflict after death of 1,400 Israelis and says he is 'disappointed' by the 'not helpful' comments

Bill Maher has slammed former President Barack Obama expressing disappointment over his comments on the current Israel-Hamas conflict.

During Obama's recent podcast he remarked how 'nobody's hands are clean' quickly drawing criticism from Maher.

The talk show host said he found fault with what he perceived as a 'moral equivalency' in Obama's statement describing his remarks as 'not horrible' but 'unhelpful'.

Speaking on the Pod Save America podcast about the conflict, the former president suggested the war was a 'moral reckoning for all of us'.

'If you want to solve the problem, then, you have to take in the whole truth', the president said.

'And you then have to admit nobody's hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree,' the former president continued.

'What Hamas did was horrific and there's no justification for it. And what is also true is that the occupation and what's happening to Palestinians is unbearable,' said Obama.

'All of this is taking place against the backdrop of decades of failure to achieve a durable peace for both Israelis and Palestinians

'I look at this and I think back, 'What could I have done during my presidency, to move this forward?' as hard as I tried. I've got the scars to prove it. 

But such remarks did not appear to pass muster with Maher.  'I must say I am struggling with people's moral equivalency, still. I mean, Barack Obama, who has rarely disappointed me, did so this week,' Maher began. 

Maher argued against the using moral equivalencies when it came to the Israel-Hamas war citing the savage nature of the attack by Hamas and emphasizing the difference between collateral damage and intentional targeting of civilians. 

'First of all, the attack was only a month ago, a more savage attack than we've ever seen in reverse. There's a big difference in collateral damage and what Hamas did,' Maher said to applause. 

He then made the point how Israel's efforts to allow a four-hour pause for civilians to evacuate contrasted markedly with Hamas' actions who make no such accommodations.

'The Israelis are now allowing a four-hour pause for people to get out,' Maher continued. 'So people say, oh, wow, big of them. Okay. But it is a war that the other side started.

'So interesting, when they fire at Israel, it's a war. When Israel fires back, it's a war crime. A little crazy. Also, would Hamas do that? Would they give four-hour pause? No. No pausing,' Maher went on.

'Israel's Heritage Minister was asked in an interview about using a nuke on Gaza, and he said that's one of the possibilities. He was fired. Not allowed in the cabinet meeting him or disavowed by the prime minister. Would that happen in reverse?

'Enough with the moral equivalencies, please,' demanded Maher.

The current conflict between Israel and Hamas started after the terrorist group attacked Israel in the early hours of October 7, leaving more than 1,400 people dead.

During his presidency, Obama often backed Israel's right to self-defense at the start of conflicts with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, but quickly called for Israeli restraint once Palestinian casualties mounted from airstrikes.

Gaza, a 25-mile long strip of land that is home to 2.3 million people, has been ruled politically since 2007 by Hamas, an Iran-backed Islamist group, but faces a blockade from Israel.

The Obama administration sought, but ultimately failed to broker, a peace deal in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Since taking office in early 2021, Biden has not tried to resume long-stalled talks, saying that leaders on both sides were too intransigent and the climate was not right.

Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a testy relationship when Obama was in office, including when Obama's administration was negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran.

Biden, as Obama's vice president, often acted as a mediator between the two men.

President Biden has strongly supported Israel in the war against Hamas and provided a significant amount of military assistance. 

But the administration recently called for a humanitarian pauses and has warned several times against inflicting outsized harm on Palestinian civilians. 

Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, ran an administration closely aligned with Israel.

Trump initially criticized Netanyahu in the wake of Hamas' attack, saying he was 'not prepared' and even went as far as praising Hezbollah, a regional militant group across the border in Lebanon, as 'very smart.' Trump retracted the comments later.