Silent on Gaza: Maher blasts college anti-Israel activists’ disappearance

“Where are the protesters?” Maher asked. “Suddenly, the keffiyeh-wearing college kids are very quiet.” Cuban agreed: “Can’t be found anywhere.”

By World Israel News Staff

Across the United States, college campuses that were once alive with anti-Israel protests have fallen noticeably silent as Hamas turns its weapons against fellow Palestinians in Gaza, raising uncomfortable questions about the true allegiances behind the movement.

Late-night host Bill Maher highlighted the issue during Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, asking his guest, billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, where the so-called “keffiyeh-wearing college kids” have gone now that Hamas is “shooting everybody.”

“Where are the protesters?” Maher pressed Cuban. “Suddenly, the keffiyeh-wearing college kids are very quiet,” he noted, echoing the frustration of many who watched the nationwide demonstrations in prior months. Cuban agreed, responding simply, “Shooting everybody,” which Maher repeated.

The comments come in the context of hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrations that erupted on campuses across the country over the past year, often clashing with law enforcement and resulting in arrests.

Students waved Palestinian flags, chanted anti-Israel slogans, and demanded a ceasefire, frequently blurring the line between anti-war activism and support for Hamas. Several students have even faced investigations for alleged ties to the terror group, while President Donald Trump repeatedly called for foreign students expressing support for Hamas to have their visas revoked.

Now, disturbing footage emerging from Gaza has only intensified scrutiny of the movement. Videos circulating on social media show Hamas fighters allegedly executing Palestinians in Gaza City’s main square.

CNN reported scenes of masked militants, some wearing Hamas-style headbands, standing behind blindfolded men with their hands tied, executing at least eight male civilians in front of crowds. Reuters noted that Hamas has killed at least 33 people in recent days following its ceasefire with Israel, sparking fears that the peace deal could collapse as the terror group seeks to consolidate power.

The late-night host’s critique underscores a broader pattern: while students once staged nationwide protests framed as support for Palestinian rights, they appear to vanish when Hamas targets the very population the protests claim to defend. Maher’s remarks reflect this contradiction: “Where are the protestors?” he asked, gesturing toward the empty moral response. “Suddenly, the keffiyeh-wearing college kids are very quiet.” Cuban echoed the sentiment, admitting he had no answer: “Can’t be found. Yeah, can’t be found anywhere.”

Pro-Israel observers argue that the silence reveals a hidden agenda among these activists. While protests were publicly cast as opposition to Israeli military action, the movement consistently prioritized political messaging against Israel itself, with little attention to Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire. The stark contrast between their public moralizing and their absence during actual attacks against Palestinians exposes the movement’s pro-Hamas sympathies.

The U.S. government responded to earlier campus demonstrations with serious concern. President Trump cut millions in federal funding to universities where anti-Israel activism surged, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the State Department to review foreign students who express support for Hamas.

These measures reflected growing recognition that a subset of student activism in America was more aligned with the goals of a terrorist organization than with genuine human rights advocacy.

Nearly two years after the Hamas-led massacre in Israel, which killed 1,200 Israelis and left 250 as hostages, a peace deal had finally been reached—yet the same activists who once flooded campus quads with pro-Palestinian chants remain silent as Hamas executes civilians in Gaza.

Their absence speaks volumes about where their true loyalties lie and underscores that for many in the movement, the cause was never the welfare of Palestinians, but rather advancing a political agenda aimed at undermining Israel.

Bill Maher’s questions resonate far beyond a late-night monologue. The silence of the “keffiyeh-wearing college kids” amid Hamas’s violence is emblematic of a movement that cloaks pro-Hamas sentiment in the language of social justice and democracy, turning American campuses into platforms for propaganda rather than moral accountability.

The reality is stark: while they profess solidarity with Palestinians, their activism evaporates when Palestinian lives are genuinely at risk.

anti-Israel activistsBill Mahercollege protestersMark Cuban