Michigan Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten sharply condemned controversial streamer Hasan Piker on Monday after he argued that American Jews who closely associate themselves with Israel are “making antisemitism worse.”
Piker made the remarks during a nearly seven-hour Twitch stream last week, prompting Scholten to accuse him of using dangerous rhetoric and targeting Michigan State Sen. Jeremy Moss.
“In his stream, Piker directly discussed and targeted Michigan State Senator Jeremy Moss, showing his picture while stating that, ‘eventually someone will come around and take action not against Israel, but against American Jews,’” Scholten wrote on X.
Scholten said Piker’s rhetoric crossed a clear line.
“Hasan Piker’s calls for violence against American Jews, and directly naming a Michigan elected official (and future Congressional colleague) Jeremy Moss are unacceptable. Full stop,” she wrote.
Scholten went on to call Piker a “hack who thrives on hate, shock and awe because he lacks substance,” arguing his rhetoric was dangerous and should be condemned across the political spectrum.
“We should all be calling out this disgusting rhetoric so it loses it’s [sic] grip on our politics once and for all,” Scholten wrote. “It has no place in Michigan, and no place in our country.”
According to Jewish Insider, Piker turned to the subject roughly two hours into his marathon stream.
“People don’t f*ck with Israel any longer,” Piker said. “If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s going to come around and take action, not against the State of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.”
Piker continued by warning about what he described as a dangerous situation for Jewish Americans.
“I don’t know how people don’t recognize how dangerous this predicament is, how dangerous this is for Jews,” he said.
The streamer then accused Jews of tying their identity to Israel and said, “You’re making antisemitism worse.”
Piker was recently seen campaigning with Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Asked by CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe about Piker’s reputation, El-Sayed said he wanted to reach the streamer’s audience while acknowledging disagreements between the two.
“Look, I want to reach out to his viewers,” El-Sayed said, adding that he “disagrees” with Piker on certain issues.
Those disagreements include Piker’s previous statement that he had “no issue with Hezbollah.”
Piker has also made controversial statements about Hamas and the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks against Israel. He previously said he would “vote for Hamas over Israel every single time,” while describing Hamas as “a thousand times better than a fascist settler colonial apartheid state.”
