Rep. Ritchie Torres warns of ‘amplification of anti-Semitism’ by Twitch streamer Hasan Piker

Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres has sounded the alarm about “an explosion of anti-Semitism” on the online streaming platform Twitch since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas — singling out popular political commentator Hasan Piker, according to a copy of a letter obtained exclusively by The Post .

The South Bronx lamwaker declared in the October 29 announcement to Twitch CEO Daniel Clancy that “the time has come for Twitch to stop popularizing those who popularize anti-Semitism” — like Piker, who enjoys one of the largest accounts on the platform with 2.7 million followers and was a credentialed streamer at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“Since October 7, there has been an explosion of anti-Semitism on social media platforms,” ​​Torres wrote. “Hasan Piker has emerged as the poster child for the post-October 7 outbreak of anti-Semitism in America.”

Torres, 36, unloaded on Clancy for hosting Piker as well as other streamers who have challenged the Jewish people, praising late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and vowing to “take back our country from these Jewish overlords.”

“If the KKK or the Third Reich were a social media platform, it would be Twitch,” Torres thundered.

The congressman quoted Piker hatefully calling a Jewish man a “f-king bloodthirsty, violent swine,” asserting that “it doesn’t matter if rape happened on October 7,” and defending Iran’s Lebanon-based terrorist proxy Hezbollah.

“To platform any of these terrorist organizations as Piker has done is beyond the pale,” Torres said, adding that the streamer’s “incitement to violence deserves scrutiny from federal law enforcement.”

“Piker has even gone as far as … telling his followers to ‘kill’ and ‘murder’ people “in the streets” and ‘let the streets soak in their red capitalist blood,'” the lawmaker noted.

The far left Piker has also joked incitement to gun violence against Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), praised a “brave mujahideen” for wounding Texas GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw in combat, claiming that “America deserved” the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, lost his right eye to an IED explosion while deployed to Afghanistan in 2012.

Another recent video showed Piker and a friend laughing at an undecided female voter in Pennsylvania who emphasized to Vice President Kamala Harris during a town hall on CNN last week: “We have to bring the hostages home.”

Hamas kidnapped 254 people from Israel – including 12 Americans – and took them back to the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.

Four American citizens were later executed in captivity by the terrorist group, another four were released in a prisoner exchange – and four remain hostages.

“One wonders if Mr. Piker has ever seen an anti-American or anti-Semitic terrorist attack he didn’t like?” Torres asked Clancy in the letter, which also references a post in which the streamer compared himself to Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. “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.”

“I have a simple question for Mr. Piker and his minions at Twitch,” the congressman continued. “What exactly do you think is funny? 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?”

Torres accused Clancy of being an “admirer” of Piker, whom the CEO has praised for “his honesty and bluntness” and for being “comfortable saying what he believes.”

“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,” the congressman added.

Torres issued a congressional inquiry into whether Twitch is allowing anti-Semitism to spread.

In January, Piker made headlines by interviewing a Houthi rebel from Yemen who hijacked a ship and became a TikTok sensation before being banned from the social media app.

Neither Clancy nor reps for Twitch immediately responded to a request for comment.