Ritchie Torres accuses Hasan Piker of anti-Semitism

Photo by AP/Alex Brandon

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) wrote a scathing letter to the CEOs of Twitch and Amazon this week, accusing the popular Twitch streamer and left-leaning pundit. Hasan Piker about becoming the “anti-Semitic poster child for a systematically anti-Semitic social media platform.”

Twitch, a subsidiary of Amazon, is one of the world’s most visited websites and attracts an audience of young Americans interested in gaming and politics. Girls, like Newsweek recently post-synchronized “Left’s Biggest Influencer,” is one of the site’s most popular streamers and regularly goes live for hours, offering commentary on current events and games.

“I am writing to express alarm about the amplification of anti-Semitism on Twitch at the hands of Hasan Piker, who is one of the largest political streamers with a following of 2.7 million. Since October 7, there has been an explosion of anti-Semitism on social media platforms,” Torres began in his letter obtained by Mediaite, adding:

Hasan Piker has emerged as the poster child for the post-October 7 outbreak of anti-Semitism in America. Mr. Piker has demonized Orthodox Jews as “inbred” and has dehumanized a Jewish man as a “bloodthirsty swine”: the connection between Jews and pigs and bloodlust is textbook anti-Semitism. Mr. Piker has almost revealed himself as an apologist for the sexual violence and wild rapes on October 7. “It doesn’t matter if the rape took place on 7 October. It doesn’t change the dynamic for me,” Mr. Piker declares, before finally admitting that “Palestinian resistance” (his euphemism for terrorism) isn’t perfect.”

Torres has grabbed headlines in recent months for his staunch pro-Israel advocacy following Hamas’s devastating October 7 attack on southern Israel. The New York Democrat left Congressional Progressive Caucus in February and has repeatedly sparred publicly with other Democrats over the Israel-Hamas war. Piker has also made headlines for his stance on the war, recently offering kind words to the terrorist organization Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

“Mr. Piker has said he has no problem with Hezbollah, the world’s most armed terrorist organization in the world, giving a platform to a suspected Houthi terrorist. The US government has declared Hezbollah a foreign terrorist organization (in the case of the former ) and the Houthis for a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Group,” Torres’ lengthy letter continues, adding:

Platforming any of these terrorist organizations, as Piker has done, is beyond the pale. Piker has even gone so far as to incite violence, telling his followers to “kill” and “murder” people “in the streets” and “let the streets soak in their red capitalist blood.” Incitement to violence deserves scrutiny by federal law enforcement.

Outside of the Oct. 7 event, Mr. Piker has even joked and mused about men raping women on a college campus and posted a picture of a handgun on top of a U.S. senator in what appears to be an open invitation to gun violence against a sitting elected official. Inviting one’s followers to shoot an elected official, whether for real or for fun, is the kind of threat that warrants serious attention from federal law enforcement.

When he is not joking and speculating about rape, Hasan Piker alternates between rape denial and rape apology. Either he denies the sexual violence of 10/7, or he denies that it matters. Mr. Piker once described the sexual violence of 7/10 as “rape fantasies” or “rape hallucinations.” Despite his disdain for and dismissiveness of Jewish rape victims in Israel, Mr. Piker remains one of the most popular political influencers on Twitch. What does his popularity reveal about the devaluation of Jewish life in American society and Twitch’s role in deepening the devaluation of Jewish life?

Hasan Piker has come out as an apologist not only for 10/7 but also for 9/11, mixing anti-Semitism with anti-Americanism. Here is Mr. Piker in his own words: “America deserved 9/11.” The 3,000 Americans who were burned or otherwise murdered in the Twin Towers; the falling men and women plummet to their deaths from 110-story skyscrapers; according to mr. Girls, they all had it. They deserved it. One wonders if Mr. Piker has ever seen an anti-American or anti-Semitic terrorist attack he didn’t like? He seems to live in a morally inverted universe where the true terrorists of 9/11 and 7/10 were not the perpetrators but the victims.

Speaking of standing up to terrorists, Mr Piker has praised the “brave mujahideen” for wounding US Congressman Dan Crenshaw, who honorably served his nation in the Navy Seals; Mr. Piker’s loyalty lies not with the members of the US Armed Services, but with the mujahideen who murder and mutilate them on the battlefield.

In a recent video on Twitch, Hasan is seen maliciously laughing at a Jewish woman who simply thanked Vice President Kamala Harris for speaking up for the hostages and who expressed concern about anti-Semitism. I have a simple question for Mr. Piker and his assistants at Twitch. What exactly do you think is funny? Are you amused by anti-Semitism? Amused by the kidnapping of 30 children, among them infants and toddlers? Amused by the abduction of aging Holocaust and Farhud survivors?

Mr. Piker revealed the depth of his depravity when he posted a picture of himself as a reincarnation of Vladimir Lenin, one of the fathers of totalitarian terror in the 20th century. Lenin is estimated to have caused the deaths of 7 to 10 million people; his successor, Stalin, the deaths of 20 to 30 million people; his follower, Mao Zedong, the death of 40 to 70 million people in Communist China. With idols like Lenin, it’s no wonder why Hasan Piker seems so unmoved by the mass killings of 7 October. The only question that remains: Why is Twitch so unfazed by Hasan Piker’s troubling anti-Semitism?

Mr. Clancy: You are known to be an admirer of Hasan Piker. You admire Mr. Piker so deeply that you even had your staff on Twitch sing him a ‘Happy Birthday’. You have praised Mr. Piker for “his honesty and bluntness” and said “he is comfortable saying what he believes.” In light of all the antisemitism that has been revealed about Mr. Piker, do you still like his honesty and bluntness? Is your company still comfortable with how comfortable Mr. Piker has been spewing anti-Semitism, no matter how “honest” and “simply” he does it?

Hasan Piker is only the tip of the iceberg – the anti-Semitic poster child for a systematically anti-Semitic social media platform. Twitch doesn’t just enable antisemitism—it encourages it. Look no further than streamer Sneako, who in a video is seen screaming like a raving maniac: “Down with the Yahood,” which means “Down with the Jews.” Lest you think that Sneako’s anti-Semitism is just an isolated incident, he effusively paid tribute to the brains of the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust: “May Allah (God) grant Yahya Sinwar the highest ranking Jannah (paradise) inshallah.” No less virulent in his anti-Semitism is Myron Gaines, who said that we need to “take our country back from these Jewish supremacists.” If the KKK or the Third Reich were a social media platform, it would be Twitch.

“If Twitch feels even the slightest hint of social responsibility as a business — a dubious proposition given the business you keep — then it’s time for Twitch to stop popularizing those who popularize anti-Semitism,” Torres concluded. “Congress has scrutinized the heightened anti-Semitism that has taken hold in the wake of October 7. Just as no person is above the law, no company in America – not even Twitch – is above congressional oversight.”

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