A wave of elected Democrats has condemned Twitch streamer Hasan Piker after he said American Jews could face violence if they keep being seen as strongly supporting Israel. The comments have widened a fight inside the party over how to handle one of its most popular online surrogates. The backlash followed an August 20 livestream in which Piker displayed a photo of Democratic Michigan state Senator Jeremy Moss, who is Jewish and running for Michigan's 11th Congressional District.
Piker warned that Jewish Americans who kept expressing singular support for Israel would eventually invite "someone" to "take action" against them. He has since blamed the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC for the wave of condemnations and says he welcomes it. Newsweek reached out to Piker for comment on Thursday.
Piker displayed an image of Moss during his August 20 stream. A fake audio clip had recently circulated online, falsely claiming that Moss said he ran for Congress only to preserve U.S. support for Israel. Piker used the clip to make a broader point.
"If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews," he said. Slotkin pointed to a nearly deadly antisemitic attack near a Michigan synagogue earlier this year. "This shouldn't be hard: no community should face the threat of violence for their political views," she wrote.
"That goes if you're pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, pro-choice, pro-life or any other cause you care about. And blaming the victims of violence for bringing it on themselves only further endangers people." Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen called the remarks "a new low" from a streamer who has "been trafficking in antisemitic tropes for a while." Blaming Jewish Americans for the hate they face, she said, "provides an excuse to those perpetuating these anti-Jewish hate crimes." House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries initially responded without naming Piker, calling the claim "dangerous and antisemitic." Asked about Piker directly on CNN the next day, Jeffries confirmed that he was referring to him and said the remarks were "dangerous, malicious and antisemitic and should not be tolerated by anyone in the public square." Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff was the latest to weigh in. Through a spokesperson, he said he "unreservedly rejects reckless and dangerous rhetoric suggesting that policy advocacy invites violence against the Jewish community or any community." He added that "American Jews and all Americans must have the freedom and security to speak out and petition their government without fear of reprisal." The comments came amid an existing controversy.
Weeks earlier, Piker had told his audience that Democratic leaders needed to publicly defend him against Republican attacks. "You have to literally, at some point, defend me," he said, arguing that the party needed to "take the L a little bit" and admit he was not a "dangerous, toxic radical force." Piker has also become a regular surrogate for candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America. He appeared alongside Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Francesca Hong in Wisconsin, and attended New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's election night watch party.
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