When a member of the College Democrats of America Jewish Caucus’s leadership learned that far-left streamer Hasan Piker would appear at the group’s national convention in Washington, D.C. over the weekend, she was “shocked on many fronts.”
The caucus leader, who was elected over the weekend and declined to be named, told JNS that she questioned the decision to invite Piker.
“I didn’t understand, first of all, why they would platform a Twitch streamer rather than a serious politician, or someone who at least has ties to the Democratic Party, because historically, he and the Democratic Party have not gotten along,” she said.
The source wrote a statement that the caucus posted on social media on Tuesday calling the decision to host Piker “a direct threat to Jewish safety and inclusion.”
The caucus said Piker has “a longstanding history of antisemitic rhetoric,” citing statements in which he referred to Orthodox Jews as “inbred,” called a Jewish man a “bloodthirsty pig dog” and referred to Hamas’s sexual violence on Oct. 7 as “rape fantasies.”
“Elevating Piker at this convention sent Jewish students a clear message that they were not welcome,” the caucus stated.
The caucus called on the national College Democrats leaders responsible for the convention to apologize for inviting Piker and on the newly elected leaders to condemn what it said is Piker’s antisemitic and misogynistic rhetoric.
It also asked the leaders to commit to engaging in a dialogue with the caucus and all other caucuses for future programming.
The source told JNS that she and many others in the caucus attended the convention. Because Piker was announced as a surprise speaker, they were not aware that Piker was going to speak until the first day of the conference, the source said.
Piker spoke twice during the conference, once as part of a panel with influencers and later in his own speech, according to the Jewish caucus leader.
She told JNS that there were rumors that some attendees were going to stage a walkout and that during the panel, the outgoing national leadership “decided it would be best to stand in front of the doors and tell attendees they could enter and not exit.”
“When I asked why, they said it was just an extra security precaution—which obviously makes no sense because anybody can come in, they just can’t leave—and that it’s out of respect for our guests,” the Jewish caucus leader said.
“At that point, I realized they were just trying to suppress the walkout,” the source said. (JNS sought comment from the College Democrats.)
“I talked to a lot of people who were rightfully upset,” she said. “Some people stayed just to hear what he had to say, and some people just boycotted the specific program.”
The caucus statement also called on leaders responsible for the convention to apologize for “restricting members from exiting the room.”
‘A systemic issue’
The Jewish caucus leader skipped Piker’s appearance on the influencer panel but attended the first five minutes of his speech later in the day, when the national leadership was “a little more reasonable” about letting people exit during the speech, she told JNS.
“I just did not feel comfortable in that space. It was being live-streamed on C-SPAN; I didn’t want my face to be there watching him,” she said. “I chose to exit along with many of my Jewish caucus counterparts and friends, who felt similarly disrespected by the speaker choice.”
She told JNS that the weekend was her first real experience with the national leadership in the College Democrats.
“That’s when I gained more clarity about how they have historically stood on issues of Israel but also just the way that they’ve treated Jewish members,” she said.
“They have tried to silence caucuses in general, so I think that it is a systemic issue within the College Democrats,” she told JNS. “I don’t think that represents the Democratic Party as a whole.”
She is “hopeful” that things will be different with the new national leadership board.
She told JNS that she received a message from a member of the new board expressing a desire to “build a strong relationship moving forward.” The person didn’t decry Piker’s rhetoric, though, she said.
