Hasan Piker, a far-left podcaster who has said that as a “lesser evil” voter, “I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time,” ought to leave the Democratic Party and start his own group, according to a new city resolution introduced in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Matt Dorsey, a Democratic member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, akin to a city council, introduced the resolution on Thursday about the streamer, who frequently makes antisemitic comments and whom the New York Times interviewed on its podcast last month.
Jon Favreau, a host of the podcast Pod Save America and former speechwriting director for President Barack Obama, asked Piker on the show last month, “When you say Hamas is 1,000 times better, do you actually mean that, or is that a rhetorical move or like a solidarity signal?”
“I mean, it’s all of the above,” Piker said. “I do mean it. I think it’s a rhetorical move because it frustrates a lot of people.”
Saikat Chakrabarti, who is running in California’s 11th Congressional District, the seat currently held by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), held a campaign rally on Thursday night with Piker.
Marc Levine, an Anti-Defamation League regional director, stated on Thursday that the nonprofit was “deeply troubled” that Chakrabarti planned to appear with Piker.
“In a time when our communities are experiencing heightened antisemitism and division, when individuals express support for the Jewish community only to appear with voices that have amplified rhetoric aligned with murderous, antisemitic, U.S.-designated terrorist organizations calling for violence against Jews, actions speak louder than words,” Levine stated.
Jeremy Russell, director of marketing for the Jewish Community Relations Council in San Francisco, told JNS that Dorsey is “absolutely right to call out Piker, whose rhetoric is misogynistic, violent and traffics in conspiracy theories, antisemitism and hate speech.”
“The fact is we are alarmed at a recent trend of politicians platforming individuals who espouse extremist views,” Russell said. “Amplifying voices who fan the flames of division is deeply dangerous and will only engender more hate and violence, especially against vulnerable communities.”
“Dorsey deserves praise for his initiative, and I hope the resolution is approved,” he added.
Seth Brysk, an American Jewish Committee regional director, told JNS that Piker “has expressed some very troubling and disturbing points of view, which have sought to demonize the Jewish community, Israel and seem to either try to explain, rationalize or even excuse violence.
“That’s repugnant and shouldn’t be given a broader platform,” he said.
Dorsey’s resolution cites the 2024 Democratic Party platform, which states that the United States “strongly supports Israel in the fight against Hamas.”
“Hasan Piker’s racist, misogynist and xenophobic political toxicity is already being weaponized against the Democratic Party by Republicans,” Dorsey wrote in the resolution.
The resolution calls on Chakrabarti, a progressive former aide to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) running against Democratic state senator Scott Wiener, to “publicly acknowledge Hamas to be a genocidal terrorist organization and to offer San Francisco voters detailed explanations of how his views do or do not align with those of Mr. Piker.”
“They’re attacking us, because we want Democrats to stop taking corporate money,” Chakrabarti stated. “They’re attacking us because we want the genocide in Gaza to end.”
Chakrabarti lists “stop funding genocide” as a key campaign issue on his website, noting that “while I grieve deeply for the people of Palestine, I also mourn for the Israeli people who have suffered in the cycle of violence.”
“Hamas committed war crimes by killing Israeli civilians on Oct. 7,” he adds on the site.
Chakrabarti has promised to “vote to end all military aid to Israel” if elected.
