Jewish groups call on UK to bar ‘dangerous’ Hasan Piker amid antisemitic attacks

Far-left streamer with record of antisemitism and October 7 denial is set to speak at a festival and record a live podcast in London in early June

UK Jewish groups are demanding Britain deny entry to far-left streamer Hasan Piker, who has compared Zionists to Nazis and called Orthodox Jews “inbred,” the UK’s Jewish News reported Friday.

Piker, whose rising visibility in Democratic Party politics has troubled many US Jews, is scheduled to speak at the SXSW London festival on June 4 and record a live podcast with news outlet UnHerd in the UK capital on June 5.

The UK’s Jewish Leadership Council said inviting Piker amid recent terror attacks on British Jews was “dangerous” given the streamer’s sympathy for Hezbollah and Hamas and his denial of atrocities committed by Hamas in the onslaught of October 7, 2023.

“Hasan Piker should not be allowed to enter the UK to spread his 7 October denialism and apparent support for terrorist organizations to a British audience,” the JLC said in a statement quoted by the UK Jewish News.

“In a climate where Jews are being stabbed on the streets of London, this rhetoric is dangerous,” the JLC said. “This is not conducive to the public good and the government should ban him.”

The Community Security Trust, a British Jewish non-profit that assists in securing communities against antisemitic attacks, said in a separate statement quoted by the Jewish News that Piker’s rhetoric is “entirely unacceptable, particularly given his large online following.”

“At a time of record levels of antisemitism in the UK, it is vital that all institutions, including event organizers, act responsibly and consider the potential impact of this kind of rhetoric,” the CST said. “The UK should not be a platform for individuals who spread hatred or legitimize extremism.”

The UK Jewish News said it has approached the British Home Office for comment on Piker’s entry into the country.

British and other diaspora Jewish communities have seen an uptick in antisemitic attacks amid the war in Gaza that was sparked by the October 7 attack, and amid the war in Iran that was launched by Israel and the US on February 28.

In north London’s Golders Green neighborhood, home to a large Jewish community, recent attacks during the Iran war have included the stabbing of two Orthodox Jewish men last month and an arson attack against four Jewish community ambulance vehicles in March.

On Yom Kippur, in October, two Jewish men were killed in a terror attack on the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, northern England.