Hasan Piker Tells Charlamagne Israel ‘Does Not Have a Right to Exist’ in ‘Its Current Formation’
Controversial streamer Hasan Piker joined The Breakfast Club on Tuesday and discussed with Charlamagne tha God whether or not Piker believes Israel has a right to exist.
Piker, a popular progressive streamer, has long raised eyebrows and received condemnation from both sides of the aisle for his bombastic rhetoric, from saying the U.S. deserved 9/11 to minimizing the October 7th terror attacks in Israel to praising China’s government as superior to the U.S. government.
Piker has stirred controversy in the midterm elections by appearing with Democratic Party candidates, like Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed, at rallies.
Charlamagne asked Piker during their lengthy conversation, “So both places have a right to exist, because I hear people that are anti-Israel, they’ll say Israel doesn’t have a right to.”
“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,” replied Piker, adding:
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. People have a right to exist, people do exist, Israel currently exists. It’s just a matter of: are they following international humanitarian laws? And they certainly are not. And I want to change that.
Charlamagne pressed, “So is it like saying MAGA doesn’t have a right to exist? Like in our current administration?”
“Like a movement, exactly,” Piker agreed, adding:
Like, that doesn’t mean that, you know, that doesn’t mean kill all Republicans or whatever, right? I mean, I’m sure that’s how people would present it. I mean, this is a trick that every political movement deploys, right. You say “Black lives matter,” they turn around and say, “Oh, how about all lives matter? You’re saying Black lives matter, which means you’re saying white lives don’t matter.” It’s like, no, that’s a whole different sentence.
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 all Jews to be exterminated, all Israelis to be exterminated, which is not the case.
Notably, much of the rhetoric questioning Israel’s right to exist historically has been tied to movements to eradicate the Jewish state from the Middle East, which has been invaded multiple times by neighboring countries in a campaign to destroy the state.
Watch the full clip above.
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