The hypocrisy of Rula Jebreal

Rula Jebreal appeared on Bill Maher's TV show on Friday night where she called him a bigot and criticized his views on Islam. Here is the discussion after Maher explained why he will be giving a commencement speech at Berkeley despite protests at his opinions of Islam (which would not be  a topic in his address):

JEBREAL: ...These same students feel offended that your views of Islam -- the generalization, and they said it clearly in their declaration, they said the generalization perpetrates bigotry. This is what they said.

...Listen, would you accept an openly anti-Semitic person to give a commencement speech to Jewish students? I actually would not accept that.

MAHER: As I just said, even Reza Aslan says I'm not a bigot. So I rather resent the idea that I'm comparable to an anti-Semite. All I've ever done was basically read facts.

JEBREAL: What facts did you read? I'm sorry, you are comparing jihadists, Salafists, Sunni, you don't know the difference. You are comparing all Muslims in one part --

MAHER: You are Palestinian?

JEBREAL: I am actually a secular Muslim. And when you talking about Islam in a certain way, I have to tell you, it's offensive sometimes.

KING: But it's okay to be offensive. That's what free speech is all about. If free speech is only speech you like, it's not free speech.

...JEBREAL: And I'm happy that he's been here and I'm here and I'm so happy to be invited here. However, if you want to have a serious conversation about Islam, and I'm sorry to say this Bill --

MAHER: Every time I tell you something you don't like it's not a serious conversation or I'm a bigot. I'm sorry, in your world either I say exactly what you want me to say or else I'm a bigot. It doesn't work that way.

JEBREAL: Look, if you're -- you don't have to say what I want because what I want is not a war on Islam. I want to win the war on terror. When you are repeating the same things that actual al Qaeda says, the same thing, you are doing the work for them. al-Zawahiri used to say, bin Laden used to say this is not a war on terror, this is a war on Islam. My father was Muslim, he was Sufi. Guess what, let me tell you something. You don't even know the difference between Sufi, Sunni, Sunni Shafi'i, Sunni Hanbali.

MAHER: Yeah, I do.

Jebreal says, twice, that Maher doesn't know the difference between different strains of Islam, and that he generalizes from one to the other, and therefore he is a bigot (more specifically, she compared him to an anti-semite and quoted the Berkeley students who said that he perpetuates bigotry. But she doesn't deny it when Maher says she believes he is a bigot.)

Guess what? By her own definition, Rula Jebreal is a bigot!

As I noted last week in my post showing the many untruths in her op-ed in the New York Times, Jebreal doesn't know the difference between religious Zionists and ultra-Orthodox (more properly, haredi) Jews:

Israel is increasingly becoming a project of ethno-religious purity and exclusion. Religious Zionist and ultra-Orthodox parties occupy 30 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, and are part of the coalition government (No ultra-orthodox parties are in the governing coalition, the NYT later corrected that.)

...Historically, ultra-Orthodox Jews did not serve in the armed forces. Today, they do — and serve in every capacity, including in the most important elite Israeli army units, such as the Sayeret Matkal special forces and Unit 8200, whose responsibilities include gathering intelligence on any Palestinian they deem a “security threat.” ("Ultra-Orthodox Jews" serve in only very specific parts of the IDF.)

And then she revealed her bigotry:

Unlike every former head of Shin Bet, Israel’s equivalent of the F.B.I., Yoram Cohen, who today heads the agency, is a religious Jew. That change is typical of Israeli society. The greater integration of ultra-Orthodox Jews clearly offers benefits to Jewish Israelis, but for Palestinian Israeli citizens, it has meant a new, religiously inspired racism, on top of the old secular discrimination.

Jebreal is saying that all religious Jews are "racist" and she damns the head of the Shin Bet based purely on his religiosity, not his actions. The (false!) example she gives to prove Israeli bigotry immediately following this section refers to Avigdor Lieberman, who is not religious at all!

So by Jebreal's own yardstick, she is a bigot. She cannot distinguish between haredim, religious Zionists and secular Jews, calling them all "racists." She generalizes large groups of people based on her perception of the actions of a few.

Too bad Maher didn't call her on this. Maybe he'll invite her back.

(h/t RCP)