The College Democrats of America’s decision to host far-left streamer Hasan Piker at its national convention is “really scary and concerning,” a Jewish student who previously held leadership positions in the organization told JNS.
The organization stated on Friday that Piker would be the “surprise speaker” at its national convention in Washington, D.C., on July 17-19. Piker has called Orthodox Jews “inbred” and said that Hamas is “1,000 times” better than the Israeli government. (JNS sought comment from the College Democrats.)
“Hasan Piker has, on multiple occasions, voiced sentiments that are deeply antisemitic. We’ve had members of Congress, like Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), explicitly call him out for his antisemitism,” the Jewish student told JNS.
“The College Democrats bill themselves as an organization that’s a big tent, that’s open to being inclusive of many different people of various different backgrounds, and I think that in the Democratic Party as a whole, we have seen that Jewish people are being further and further excluded because of our inherent ties to Israel, and I think that the College Democrats cannot effectively be a big tent organization open to all people if Jewish people are being excluded,” said the student, who declined to be named.
“This organization would not bring in somebody who is so openly discriminatory against other groups, but because of this rising sentiment in College Democrats’ leadership that is just hatred for Jews, it really is just highly concerning that they would do something like this,” he added.
The student was concerned about the College Democrats’ leadership even before Friday’s Piker announcement. Within the organization’s leadership, “it has become increasingly common to see people wearing keffiyehs, to see people voicing support for Palestine,” he told JNS.
“Within College Democrats, I am afraid to tell people that I am Jewish, and I would often hide that,” the student said. “I believe in many of the Democratic ideals that are center within the Democratic Party and within College Democrats, but my identity as a Jew and as a Zionist is also central to who I am, and it was very challenging to feel like it was necessary to hide those things to really become a full and active participant of this organization.”
According to the student, there has been “pushback” against the College Democrats’ decision to host Piker as a speaker at the convention. He believes that not all members of the College Democrats share the beliefs of a “small subset of young people who have taken the reins of this organization and have really co-opted it for their own personal use to fulfill what they see as the best thing for themselves politically.
“They really do need to be stopped,” the student told JNS. “I believe in this organization, I believe in the ethos behind this, but this is a deeply, deeply troubling path they are pursuing right now.”
