Hasan Piker Defends Anti-Zionist Protesters Who Accused Mamdani of ‘Genocide’

(Ohad Zwigenberg/Yuki Iwamura/Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP photos)

Controversial streamer Hasan Piker weighed in on anti-Zionist protesters chanting against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) on Wednesday and later jeering him as he attended an evening vigil for the victims of Hamas’s October 7th terror attacks on southern Israel.

“Mayor Mamdani, you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide,” was a chant heard outside of City Hall from protesters who held their own “resistance” rally and accused the progressive stalwart and fierce critic of Israel’s conduct in Gaza of siding with pro-Israel factions.

Piker, who has stirred controversy this election cycle with his many incendiary comments, went through various clips of protests from New York City on Wednesday evening and addressed some of his audience’s comments.

“I mean, I criticize Zohran a lot. God. Yeah, what are you guys doing, man? Why are you f*cking? Why? Are you shutting down the pro-Palestine protest on October 7? Nonetheless, like, oh my lord. My point remains the same. If you want- If you want it to be frictionless, if the only alternative people see to Zohran’s inability to address them is public demonstrations. Then people are gonna do public demonstrations. These people don’t have the opportunity to speak to Zohran behind closed doors,” Piker said of the protestors targeting Mamdani.

Piker then showed clips of Mamdani attending the vigil and added, “Wait, I thought this was, wait, ‘Protestors flooded the seating area at the Israelis for Peace Vigil.’ Oh, this was the vigil? I thought it was the pro-Palestine rally. It was an Israeli, it was an Israel rally? Israelis for peace? The f*ck? What the hell is going on in New York City, man? Is this ‘Standing Together’ front? There ain’t no way that Zohran presented that as the pro-Palestine rally, right? Please. There ain’t no way.”

“Zohran Mamdani is definitely very fearful of negative press coverage, and he receives it by the mouthful every single time he even sneezes in a direction of a Palestinian that is treated like a crumb of sympathy. That’s pressure that he’s responding to with material support to organizations like the JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Council),” Piker continued, adding:

You have a coalition of forces constantly applying pressure in every direction and for him if it comes across as frictionless from the pro-Palestinian side and he’s receiving a tremendous amount of friction from the pro-Israel side he’s going to turn around he’s going to Turn around and cave and capitulate to the needs of the pro-Israel side.

Piker then read a comment out loud, “That’s a stupid thing to say. If you think the pro-Israel lobby is successful, why not use their tactics? Why not put pressure?”

“Wait, what? Wait, first of all, I’m in favor of applying pressure,” Piker replied to the commenter, adding, “I’m saying that there would be far less of it if he had offered material changes of the pro-Palestine front that, you know. Played a formative role that was his like organizing home initially; even before DSA, it was SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine).”

Piker’s comments were quickly clipped and went viral online.

Neera Tanden, a Piker critic and the head of the Center for American Progress, replied by jabbing Mamdani for having allied himself with Piker, “You reap what you sow.”

Below are some additional reactions:

__

The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
The single summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting from both sides of the aisle. Subscribe now!