‘Pathetic!’ Democrat Rep Slams Abdul El-Sayed on Fox for Not Condemning Hasan Piker

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) criticized Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on Fox News for refusing to condemn Hasan Piker as the polarizing Twitch streamer continues to find his name in headlines.

Piker has long attracted controversy for his antisemitic commentary, with Republicans seeking to tie him to the Democratic Party and numerous Democratic candidates distancing themselves from him. El-Sayed, however, has shrugged off opportunities to criticize Piker and even campaigned with him recently.

On Tuesday’s episode of Fox’s America’s Newsroom, anchor Dana Perino played a clip of Piker that she described as him “suggest[ing] Jewish Americans who back Israel are inviting violence on themselves.”

“People don’t [bleep] with Israel any longer,” said Piker in the clip. “And if Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s gonna come around and take action. Not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.”

Perino noted a recent tweet from Gottheimer that said, “The only one inciting violence against American Jews is Piker and his rhetoric.”

The New Jersey congressman called on his fellow Democrats to “call out [Piker’s] hate and condemn these dangerous views,” specifically declaring that “[a]nyone campaigning with him is part of the problem.”

Perino introduced Gottheimer and played another video of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) telling CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer that Piker’s comments were “dangerous, malicious, and antisemitic,” and “should not be tolerated by anyone in the public square.”

“What we’ve seen is a startling rise of hate crimes all across the United States of America, but particularly in this moment directed against our Jewish brothers and sisters,” said Jeffries.

Gottheimer said that he “couldn’t agree more” with Jeffries, blasting Piker for his “appalling and disgusting” comments and for having “basically put an open call-out for violence against Jewish Americans, those who, of course, have come out in support of the US/Israel relationship.”

Piker’s comments were “right out of a Nazi playbook,” said Gottheimer, reiterating that he was “glad Leader Jeffries came out strongly against it,” and was hopeful that the rest of the House would too, both Democrats and Republicans.

“We introduced a resolution months ago condemning Hasan Piker and Candace Owens,” said Gottheimer. “It’s time we said enough is enough with this blatant hatred against anyone.”

When Perino asked about El-Sayed campaigning with Piker and declining to reject him, Gottheimer had a blunt reply.

“El-Sayed’s response is pathetic, and it did not answer the call,” he said. “I mean, the bottom line is he did not condemn Piker. He didn’t even mention Piker. He didn’t condemn what Piker said. He didn’t say ‘I will never campaign with this guy again.’ As you pointed out, he campaigned the last night of his primary, this is such a random guy for him. Frankly he should not only condemn him but no Democratic members should allow Piker anywhere near them on the campaign trail. They should want nothing to do with this guy. And, you know, anybody who does and does not condemn them bears responsibility for comments like that.”

“You can’t allow this kind of rhetoric to go out there,” Gottheimer continued, noting that Piker’s comments were directed at a Michigan state senator but only one person in the Michigan delegation said anything, only “crickets” from the rest.

“I think every member of Congress should come out and say ‘Hasan Piker, you-re not welcome here, your anti-American views,” Gottheimer said. “He didn’t just call Jews ‘pig dogs’ but this is a guy who said 9/11 was America’s fault. He has praised Mao Zedong and [Vladimir] Lenin, he’s said that going after Iran with sanctions makes no sense. This is not a guy who any of us should embrace.”

Piker “has come out strongly against Jews over and over again,” Gottheimer emphasized, directly calling Piker an “antisemite.”

“Hasan Piker is an antisemite,” he said. “It is what it is. And I don’t think he would even claim otherwise. He tries to slice the words up, but at the end of the day, that’s what he is. Nobody should be anywhere near this guy. No one should campaign with him, no one should repost him. And frankly, anyone who is quiet right now is complicit. Everyone should come out against this guy and we should vote to condemn him when we get back to Congress. Again, Mike Lawler and I have a resolution. I’m hoping that Republican leadership bring it to the floor so we can stand up to him and to people like Candace Owens that are spewing hate across the board.”

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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