Piker reaffirms the comparison on MS NOW: “I do believe that”
Hasan PikerPolitical commentator and streamer, interviewed on MS NOW’s “Clock It” by Eugene Daniels and Symone D. Sanders Townsend
Asked on MS NOW whether his formulation was provocation or genuine belief, Piker reaffirmed it — “I do believe that” — describing it as intentionally provocative and as one of his standard examples, while acknowledging Hamas is a religious fundamentalist organisation that has engaged in violent actions and attributing that violence to the occupation.
“Is Hamas a religious fundamentalist operation that have engaged in violent actions? Of course they have, absolutely. But that violence is directly born out of, and even that repression is directly born out of, the conditions brought about by the occupation that’s been going on for 80 plus years.”
Original video
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Hasan Piker’s “Hamas over Israel” comparison
Hasan Piker affirmed a hypothetical preference for Hamas over Israel through lesser-evil reasoning. Jon Favreau disputed the moral comparison, while the ADL cited it as whitewashing terrorism. Piker later acknowledged Hamas war crimes and denied endorsing its domestic policies, while maintaining that Israeli occupation was the overriding concern.
Source and context
Original video
About this source
Full 80-minute episode of MS NOW’s “Clock It,” hosted by Eugene Daniels and Symone D. Sanders Townsend, uploaded September 17, 2026. Quotations here were checked against the published audio rather than taken from secondary reports. That matters: NewsBusters rendered the passage as “this is intentionally provocative, but it’s also not untrue,” but the audio shows Piker was cut off mid-sentence after “but it’s also not—” by a host asking “do you believe that?” The word “untrue” is not spoken at that point. The New York Post’s account, which omits it, matches the recording. The New York Post describes the exchange as taking place on Wednesday, September 16, so the recording may predate publication.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
Independent report of the same exchange. Its rendering matches the recording, including the omission of any “not untrue” formulation. It dates the exchange to Wednesday, September 16, while the MS NOW clip was published September 17.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Said in response to a question about his description of his own provocations as agitation propaganda, and what the provocation is meant to accomplish. He answered that it is partly “to provoke the opposition into taking a position that’s more honest about their intentions” and partly “to get people to recognize certain ongoing and historic atrocities,” then offered the Israel-Hamas comparison as his standard example.
After the quotation
Piker was cut off mid-sentence after “this is intentionally provocative, but it’s also not—” when a host asked whether he believed it; he answered “yeah, no, I do believe that.” He went on to compare the case to the ANC’s armed struggle against apartheid South Africa. A secondary account of this exchange completes the interrupted sentence as “not untrue”; that word does not appear in the published audio.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
On Piker’s Hamas-over-Israel comparison and whether it whitewashes or excuses Hamas, he defends the comparison directly, affirming that he believes it and citing it as an example he uses “fairly frequently,” expressly linking it back to the Pod Save America exchange that anchors this case. His concession that Hamas is “a religious fundamentalist operation that have engaged in violent actions” does not make the position mixed: it is the same lesser-evil structure already recorded here, in which the acknowledgement is followed immediately by attribution of that violence to the occupation. “Minimized” understates a speaker who is affirmatively restating and justifying the comparison rather than downplaying a concern about it.
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- Piker reaffirms the comparison on MS NOW: “I do believe that”
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The Dispute Index. "Piker reaffirms the comparison on MS NOW: “I do believe that”". First published: 2026-09-18. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1082-asked-on-ms-now-whether-his-formulation-was