Piker: "I believe Zionism is fascism," and says he isn't worried his audience would turn violent
Hasan PikerStreamer and political commentator
Asked about his statement that Zionist tendencies should be treated like rabid neo-Nazism, Piker affirmed that he believes Zionism is fascism, and said he is not worried that his audience would be violent towards Zionists.
“I believe Zionism is fascism. However, I live in the United States of America. So I have to deal with a lot of people who I personally think exhibit the qualities of fascists. And yet we sometimes still organize with these people. ... I'm not worried that they're going to be violent against Zionists. No, I'm not.”
Interview
Other statements by Hasan Piker in this case
- Piker: a Chinese child may have better conditions than an American oneSame day: Defended or excused
- Piker: Israel "in its current formation" should not be a U.S. allySame day: Defended or excused
- Piker concedes the framing point: “the problem isn’t necessarily what I’m saying”Same day: Defended or excused
Where this statement fits
Hasan Piker's Axios Show interview claims about terrorism, Iran, China and Israel
In an interview for "The Axios Show" conducted by Alex Thompson, Hasan Piker was asked whether America commits more terrorism than the organization behind the September 11 attacks and answered "Pound for pound as far as the number of deaths, yes," adding that the United States has "caused tremendous terror all around the world." He cited a U.S. missile strike on an elementary school in Minab, Iran, and said the analysis does not justify the September 11 attacks. Excerpts published September 17, 2026 also carried his view that the Middle East would be more stable if Iran had a nuclear weapon, while he said he does not want Iran, the United States, Russia or China to possess nuclear arms and was not advocating Iranian armament. The full episode, published September 18, added further contested claims: that Mao Zedong was "a great man of history" whose "excesses" were "deaths born out of mismanagement and famine"; that a Chinese child may have better conditions than an American one within two decades; that "Zionism is fascism" and that he is not worried his audience would turn violent against Zionists; and that Israel "in its current formation" should not be a U.S. ally. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan for whom Piker campaigned in the primary, rejected the al-Qaeda comparison. The dispute is whether these claims are defensible analysis of U.S., Middle Eastern and Chinese policy or indefensible positions, and what they mean for the candidates associated with him.
Source and context
Interview
About this source
Full 56-minute episode of "The Axios Show," published September 18, 2026, interviewer Alex Thompson, taped in Los Angeles. Quotations checked against the recording; Available captions for this episode garble proper nouns badly ("Mao Dong," "Shing Jang," "Assan Biker," "Nithia Ramen") and should not be relied on for wording. Thompson pushes back throughout, reading Piker's past statements back to him and citing Amnesty International on China's treatment of Uyghurs, to which Piker replies that he is "very familiar" and has "criticized it a lot."
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Said in the full Axios Show episode published September 18, 2026, after Alex Thompson read back Piker's own words that "any kind of ... Zionist tendency should be treated in the same way as being a ... rabid neo-Nazi," to which Piker replied, "Yes, I do."
After the quotation
Pressed on whether the rhetoric could incite people, Piker said support for Israel is "not only unbelievably violent, but it's a justification for a genocide of Palestinians," and argued that "if you've done a genocide and you defend the genocide that's taking place ... then you're pro-genocide." Asked whether Gaza was as bad as the Holocaust, he said it is "not to the same degree, of course, not the same severity, but it doesn't have to be for it to be considered a genocide. A genocide is determined by intent."
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The claim at issue here is Piker's characterisation of Zionism as fascism and his associated rejection of the concern that this rhetoric could incite violence. He defends both, restating the characterisation when it is read back to him and expressly denying the incitement concern when Alex Thompson puts it to him twice.
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- Published here
More from this case
Read the full caseKulinski defends Piker's comparison of U.S. actions with terrorism
“everything that Hasan said there is 100 percent factually true.”Read statement
JB Pritzker, asked whether Democrats should denounce Piker, redirects to stopping Trump
“You know, I'm not focused on the streamers and what they're saying. There's a whole lot of them, and they got a whole lot of views. I'm just saying that what I think we should be talking about and focused on is how do we stop Donald Trump in his tracks? How do we make sure that we're putting forward an agenda that really fights for the people who need it, which are the most vulnerable? The workers, you know, the middle class who really need someone to stand up for them. That's why I'm a Democrat. That's why the Democratic Party exists. That's what we should be focused on. You know, again, I'm not focused. I don't even want to talk about it. Hasan Piker doesn't mean anything to me or in my election.”Read statement
Francesca Fiorentini says Piker’s critics “made him the media figure for bad reasons” and would prefer he “do nothing at all”
“You made him the media figure for bad reasons. He was out here minding his damn business.” … “They would be absolutely okay with him utilizing his millions of followers to do nothing at all, because they would prefer that than for him to use the followers to actually boot out these do-nothing establishment Democrats”Read statement
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- Piker: "I believe Zionism is fascism," and says he isn't worried his audience would turn violent
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The Dispute Index. "Piker: "I believe Zionism is fascism," and says he isn't worried his audience would turn violent". First published: 2026-09-18. Last updated: 2026-09-18. https://disputeindex.com/events/1042-asked-about-his-statement-that-zionist-tendencies-should