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New Yorker Festival Slammed for Inviting Rabid Anti-Israel Twitch Streamer Hasan Piker as Speaker

Hasan Piker. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Organizers of the 26th annual New Yorker Festival are being sharply criticized for inviting Hasan Piker, a rabid anti-Israel online influencer and one of Twitch’s biggest streamers, to be a speaker at the event despite his vast history of making antisemitic and anti-Zionist comments, as well as expressing support for US-designated terrorist organizations.

The New Yorker Festival, hosted by the magazine The New Yorker, will be held in New York from Oct. 24-26. Piker has been invited to participate in a roundtable discussion on the last day of the annual event about “how the internet has reshaped political life — and what it means for the future of democracy.” The Turkish American political commentator will speak on stage alongside podcaster Saagar Enjeti and New Yorker staff writer Andrew Marantz.

In a series of messages posted on X, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said The New Yorker‘s decision to give a platform to Piker “is the latest example of mainstream media normalizing his brand of antisemitism and anti-Zionism.”

“Piker’s toxic and extreme rhetoric opposing Zionism and the Jewish state normalizes #antisemitism, reinforces bigotry, and launders terror – and it has no place at a conference devoted to prominent influencers,” the ADL added. The Jewish civil rights group additionally called Piker’s invitation to the festival “deeply ironic” considering that the event will also feature novelist Salman Rushdie, who has received death threats for decades from the Iranian regime that supports Hezbollah and the Houthis – two US-designated terrorist groups that Piker has publicly praised.

Piker, who has 2.9 million followers on Twitch, has compared Yemen’s Houthis to Holocaust victim Anne Frank, broadcast propaganda videos from the Houthis during his Twitch livestreams, and defended terrorist actions by the Houthis are “an act of resistance.” He also described Lebanese Hezbollah as a “resistance group” that is “successful” during a Twitch stream posted on Sept. 28, 2024, and added, “I don’t have an issue with them.” He has also said “America deserved 9/11,” and that “it doesn’t matter if rapes happened on Oct. 7,” referring to the Hamas-led deadly terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“These extreme statements, and others, should permanently disqualify him from appearing at any major media festival,” the ADL stated in conclusion.

Piker justified the Oct. 7 attack in Israel and said he believes the terrorists were not motivated by antisemitism. “These aren’t barbaric monsters … it is not coming out of a place of antiquated antisemitic tendencies or that they wanted to go out and do mass rapes,” he said of the Hamas terrorists responsible for the attack.

“It doesn’t matter if f–king rapes happened on Oct. 7,” Piker also said during a livestream on May 22, 2024. “It doesn’t change the dynamic [of Palestinians and Israelis] for me.”

During a livestream on April 18 last year, Piker said he believes Hamas is the “lesser evil” in comparison to the Israeli military. He has also joked that a second “9/11” would be “so sick” and when asked during an interview what his favorite flag is, he replied, “Hezbollah.”

High-profile attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented victims of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein, told The Telegraph that The New Yorker Festival should not be hosting someone who plays down the rape of women that took place during the Oct. 7 attack.

“We should not provide mainstream forums for persons who may wish to normalize the concept that rape doesn’t matter, because I believe that rape always matters, not only to the victims of rape, but also to the status and condition and future of women and girls,” Allred said. “I also believe that persons who express hate speech should not be invited to prestigious round tables. Anyone who suggests that it doesn’t matter if rape happened, [that] should be sufficient to exclude a person from an invitation list to participate in the New Yorker round table.”

Allred told The Telegraph that although she believes “people with unpopular and extremist views have a right to express their opinions, I do not believe that a publisher has any legal obligation to provide a platform to such persons to express their views.”

Piker has been celebrated in profiles by Rolling Stones magazine, the New York Times and GQ. He is also a supporter of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who has repeatedly accused Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, and refuses to affirm Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

During a Twitch stream, Piker said any “Zionist entity” should be “treated in the same way as a rabid neo-Nazi, and you shouldn’t even let someone be the local dog catcher if they’ve ever exhibited any positive feelings about the State of Israel.”

At the 2025 People’s Conference for Palestine in August, he said “some of the worst people” in the world include “the Michael Rapaports of the world, the Amy Schumers of the world … Satan-yahu.” Both Rapaport and Schumer are proud Jewish celebrities and “Satan-yahu” is a clear reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The New Yorker Festival will be held from Oct. 24-26.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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