Far-left streamer Hasan Piker equates Israel's 'right to exist' to Nazi Germany
Far-left streamer Hasan Piker equated Israel's "right to exist" to Nazi Germany on Saturday during an interview on "The Breakfast Club," calling it an "apartheid state."
"I think Israel in its current formation, given that it’s a settler colonial operation that’s seeking out the expulsion or complete extermination of the indigenous population as an apartheid state does not have a right to exist," he said. "It’s like, for me, it’s like saying does Nazi Germany have a right to exist or does apartheid South Africa have a right to exist? Does Rhodesia have a right to exist? No, of course not."
Host of "The Breakfast Club," Charlamagne tha God, asked if it was like saying MAGA didn't have a right to exist, and Piker said yes.
"That doesn't mean kill all Republicans or whatever, right? I mean, I'm sure that's how people would present it as. I mean, this is a trick that every political movement deploys, right?" Piker responded.
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He added, "So the, 'Does Israel have a right to exist?' deployment as a statement, as a question, is a technique to shift the conversation away from Israel's crimes against the Palestinians to make it seem like the opposition is actually being crazy, and they want like all Jews to be exterminated, all Israelis to be exterminated, which is not the case. That's not a real point of advocacy, it's certainly not my advocacy," the streamer continued.
UCLA professor Benjamin Radd refuted Piker's characterization of Israel in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"Piker’s comments about Israel as a ‘settler colonial operation’ and its alleged objective of ‘seeking out the expulsion or complete extermination’ of one of the region’s indigenous groups reflects a profound ignorance of the historical development of the land, and of the various ethnic, religious, and colonial-imperial powers — including the Ottoman Turks — that have traded control over it. If Piker were intellectually honest, he could hold two uncomfortable truths simultaneously: that different groups, including Jews, have legitimate indigenous claims and that the current Israeli leadership does not represent nor serve as an indictment of those claims," Radd said.
Piker, an outspoken anti-Israel voice, also compared Zionism to fascism and Nazi Germany during the conversation.
"I think the reason why the Israeli society broadly has shifted so far to the right in a matter of decades is because of this ideology that guides Israeli society. It’s Zionism, which I, by the way, have no problems like, equating to fascism because it is a fascist ideology and even make these comparisons to Nazi Germany, which is very frustrating for a lot of people. They say that’s antisemitic," he said.
Piker has divided the Democratic Party, as some have chosen to embrace the streamer and others have denounced him.
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Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has campaigned with Piker and has dismissed any focus on his controversial statements. Though, recently, El-Sayed has put some distance between himself and the streamer.
El-Sayed, who is facing off against former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in battleground Michigan in a high-stakes Senate showdown, on Monday emphasized in a statement, "I want to be crystal clear, nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople."
The statement from El-Sayed came after Piker, on his stream last week, featured an image of state Sen. Jeremy Moss, the Democratic nominee in Michigan's 11th Congressional District. Moss, who is Jewish, has said that people are sharing a fake audio clip of him claiming that his entire reason for running for Congress is to make sure that America continues to support Israel.
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"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," Piker warned.
Piker, who endorsed El-Sayed for the Democratic nomination and appeared at some of the candidate's campaign events, including a primary night party in Detroit, has repeatedly stood by his numerous past comments critical of Israel over its ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
Fox News Digital reached out to The Anti-Defamation League and The Jewish Federation for comment.