Norm Macdonald on Roseanne Barr: She's 'left-wing' except when it comes to Israel

Norm Macdonald has known Roseanne Barr for more than three decades, and he's confident about one thing: Despite her unfaltering support of the Trump administration, Barr is, at her core, a liberal.

Decades ago, Barr gave Macdonald his first-ever job in Hollywood when she hired him to write for "Roseanne." He also wrote for the ill-fated reboot that was canceled this year amid extreme controversy.

"I always knew her as a very left-wing person," Macdonald told the Hollywood Reporter. "On the original show, she had [a network sitcom's] first gay couple. She would always want more minorities on the show, on the writing staff. When she did this [reboot,] it was all her idea to get all these different orientations and religions and so forth represented."

But while Barr demonstrated traditionally liberal and progressive values, Macdonald said, she is fixated on one issue that doesn't squarely align with the Democratic agenda.

"What I do know is that she is a single-issue motivated person. And that issue is Israel," Macdonald said. "That's all she cares about politically. She is left-wing in everything else. But that is why she did not like the Obama administration, because they snubbed Netanyahu."

He added, "I believe that is the only reason she voted Trump."

In the last month of his presidency, the Obama administration took what some called a "parting shot" at Israel by abstaining on a UN Security Council vote demanding that Israel stop building settlements on Palestinian territory. Obama's choice not to vote allowed, for the first time in four decades, the Security Council to pass a resolution critical of Israel.

Barr said earlier this month that she is preparing for an extended trip to Israel this fall and hopes to move there permanently.

"I have an opportunity to go to Israel for a few months and study with my favorite teachers over there," Barr said on a recent podcast. "And that's where I'm going to go and probably move somewhere there and study with my favorite teachers."

And while it was a racially-charged tweet that ultimately took down Barr's career -- she compared Obama official Valerie Jarrett to "Planet of the Apes" -- Macdonald is adamant that those comments don't reflect her true character.

"She is certainly not a racist," he said. "That's just crazy."