Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker called Hamas "far more moderate" than at its inception during a Channel 4 News UK "TrumpWorld" interview Wednesday as co-host Matt Frei confronted him over his past praise of the terrorist group.
Piker's comment drew condemnation Friday from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) over his growing influence among progressive Democrats.
"I think Hamas’ current position, as far as I understand it, is far more moderate than its position was at its inception," Piker said. "They've recognized that it's virtually impossible to advance this vengeance quest against Israel."
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An ADL spokesperson rejected Piker’s characterization in a statement to Fox News Digital Friday, pointing to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza.
"Hasan Piker's claim that Hamas has grown ‘more moderate’ is outrageous. Hamas remains a U.S.-designated terrorist organization committed to Israel's destruction, responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre and continued abuse of the very Palestinians it claims to represent," the spokesperson said.
"Any candidate or platform that hosts him or associates with him without challenge lends legitimacy to that rhetoric."
Republican Jewish Coalition National Political Director Sam Markstein also rejected Piker’s characterization.
"There is nothing ‘moderate’ about Hamas, and there is nothing defensible about Hasan Piker," Markstein said in a statement Friday to Fox News Digital.
Markstein pointed to Piker's previous statements that he would vote for Hamas over Israel and that the terrorist group was "a thousand times better than" the Jewish state. He also pointed to Piker's appearances with Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
"Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and a growing list of progressive Democrats are proud to campaign at his side. Every Democrat who has embraced Piker owes us a straight answer: 'Do you stand with his apologetics for a brutal terrorist organization, yes or no?'" he said.
"His rising influence inside the Democratic Party is a flashing red warning to Jewish voters about exactly where that party is headed, and it isn't with us."
Frei told Piker the network's Palestinian journalists had described Hamas as unpopular in Gaza and said the group had violently repressed dissent. Frei asked why Piker framed Palestinian resistance through Hamas despite its treatment of Gazans and the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
"They exist under a colonial occupation. Gaza is a hermetically sealed open-air prison before Oct. 7 as well," Piker said. "So, I think a lot of the violence or the brutality in terms of governance stems from that. I don’t think it’s, like, an ideological disagreement.
"I don't care about Hamas' domestic functions," he added. "I just want the apartheid and the occupation to end."
Piker also said he did not support Hamas governing Gaza and acknowledged that war crimes occurred on Oct. 7, while insisting that Palestinians retained a right to "resist militarily."
Piker pointed to Hamas' 2017 political document as evidence the group had evolved since its original 1988 charter. The document described a Palestinian state along the lines that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War as a consensus position, but it also explicitly refused to recognize Israel, rejected the concession of the territory it defined as Palestine and identified armed resistance as a strategic choice.
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The State Department has designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization since 1997. The Justice Department said Hamas terrorists killed nearly 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds during the Oct. 7 attack.
El-Sayed appeared repeatedly with Piker during the Michigan primary campaign, including at a Detroit pool party the night before Election Day. When asked later whether he would welcome Piker back to the campaign trail, El-Sayed did not directly answer but rejected Piker’s past remark that America deserved 9/11.
"Of course, it was a dumb statement and, of course, I think Hasan himself would say that was a dumb statement," El-Sayed said. "He disavowed it. So, yes, America didn’t deserve 9/11."
Fox News Digital reached out to Piker for additional comment.
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