Bill Maher blasts academics for trashing Western civilization – and Israel

Comedian Bill Maher roasted lefty academics for trashing Western civilization — while enjoying the freedoms and institutions it created.

During Friday night’s episode of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” he vented during a conversation about Israel with Wesleyan University President Michael Roth, who has criticized the “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” movement against Israel that has flared at the elite Connecticut school and other campuses.

“Israel was known as an outpost of Western civilization,” he told Roth.

Talk host Bill Maher got into a discussion about how liberal academics treat Western civilization as if it’s a “bad thing.”

“And that’s what it was called. That was always a good thing. Now, I don’t think it is,” Maher said, referring to the changing perception of Israel amid its war against Hamas in Gaza that began after the Oct. 7 attacks.

“Western civilization — they talk about it like it’s a bad thing, instead of saying Western civilization is what gave everyone who’s a progressive the things they should be most proud of,” Maher continued.

Roth jumped in to acknowledge that “a lot of our students think just that.”

Maher was incredulous.

Maher said Israel used to be treated as an “outpost” of western civilization. Youtube/Real Time with Bill Maher

“The professors are teaching that message? I think they’re learning it from my show,” joked Maher.

Roth suggested the professors might be watching his show more than the typical 18-year-old, prompting Maher to ask whether he could come to the Middletown, Conn., campus and be “welcome.”

“Welcome maybe not, but certainly …” Roth responded, drawing laughs from the audience.

A fireball lights the sky following a missile strike on Saturday, February 28, 2026, in Tel Aviv. Israel joined the US in its attack on Iran that began in February. Maher said it used to be considered a “good thing” to be an outpost of Western civilization. AFP via Getty Images

That prompted Maher, who frequently skewers the left, to point out his Democratic fundraising credentials.

“Someone who twice gave the Democrats a million dollars — that’s not enough credentials to come up?” he marveled.

Roth said if he brought $1 million for the school, he’d be welcomed “with open arms,” earning laughs.

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