Pro-Palestinian US streamer Hasan Piker says UK blocked his entry over criticism of Israel
By Sana Noor Haq, CNN
(CNN) — The pro-Palestinian American streamer Hasan Piker and his uncle say Britain’s government has barred them from entering the country over their criticism of Israel.
Piker, 34, and Turkish-American broadcaster and attorney Cenk Uygur were scheduled to speak this week at the South by Southwest technology and business festival (SXSW) in London and address the Oxford Union, a debating society at the prestigious British university.
But on Sunday, Piker posted on X that the United Kingdom’s government had “revoked my visa, all at the behest of Israel.”
Uygur said he discovered he’d been barred when he tried to board a flight to the British capital.
“I’ve been banned for criticizing Israel. Are we free anymore? This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!” he posted on X.
Piker’s hours-long live-streaming broadcasts, in which he discusses breaking news and policy, reach more than 30,000 people daily, according to his profile on the SXSW website. It describes him as “an authoritative voice” for millennials and Gen Z. He has about 6.4 million followers across the social media platforms X, Instagram and Twitch.
Uygur founded the independent online talk show, The Young Turks, which has grown into the largest online news network in the US, according to the website. Uygur also campaigned for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 US presidential election.
In a statement to CNN, he claimed he had been “banned from entering the country for doing a news show.” “Are there any other countries you’re not allowed to criticize, or just Israel? If their point was to show that Israel does not get any special privileges in Western countries, they have found a deeply ironic way to deliver that message,” he said.
CNN has also reached out to Piker’s representatives for comment.
British media reported that Home Secretary Shabhana Mahmood canceled Piker and Uygur’s Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), which permits non-UK citizens to visit the country without a visa for up to six months. The decision to bar Uygur from traveling to Britain is “understood to have been based on several grounds,” including that his presence in the UK would “risk exacerbating antisemitism,” London’s Times newspaper reported on Monday.
The UK Home Office told CNN that such decisions “are based solely on an assessment of potential risk an individual may pose to UK society” and that “individuals may choose to apply for a visa if they still wish to travel to the UK.”
In April, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that a recent spate of antisemitic attacks left Jewish people “scared to show who they are.”
Some Jewish groups say criticism of Israel has fueled intimidation and antisemitism. But others say accusations of antisemitism have been used to suppress legitimate criticism of Israel’s government.
Piker has repeatedly insisted he is anti-Zionist, not antisemitic, and he has called for greater accountability over Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip. Both Piker and Uygur have described the Israeli offensive in Gaza as a genocide.
In September, an independent UN inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a finding the Israeli government rejected.
A self-professed socialist, Piker has been one of the most potent advocates for the rights of Palestinians under Israeli bombing in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks.
He has also made comments that have drawn criticism. In an April episode of the podcast, “Pod Save America,” he claimed, “I’m a lesser-evil voter, and therefore I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.” Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by a number of countries and entities, including the United States, Britain and the European Union.
Several years earlier, the Twitch streamer apologized for “inappropriate” remarks he made in 2019 that “America deserved 9/11.” He said during an appearance on The Young Turks, “I should’ve used more precise and better use of the language there.”
Speaking at the Oxford Union last May, Piker described antisemitism as “one of the oldest bigotries that has caused those of the Jewish faith a tremendous amount of pain.” He denounced the “conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism” as a “cynical ploy to stop all manner of conversation.”
The-CNN-Wire
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