Hasan Piker tells The New Republic he stands by the basic sentiment of his Hamas comparison
Hasan PikerPolitical commentator and livestream host, interviewed by The New Republic
Asked by The New Republic about his post calling Hamas a thousand times better than Israel, Piker stood by the basic sentiment, saying Israel, not Hamas, had committed genocide.
Responding to
A lesser-evil comparison favors Hamas over Israel.
“I think it’s unquestionable at this point that, yeah, Hamas didn’t do a genocide. Israel did. And I think that’s very hard to argue against, beyond saying, how crazy, how ridiculous, Hamas is a terrorist organization, you’re a terrorist.”
Interview
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
Interview
About this source
The New Republic interview by contributing editor Aaron Regunberg. Regunberg puts comments cited by Third Way to Piker one at a time, including the January post calling Hamas "a thousand times better" than Israel, and adds his own assessment after each answer.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Regunberg quoted Piker's January post and wrote that, setting aside the hyperbole of "a thousand times," Piker stood by its basic sentiment.
After the quotation
Regunberg wrote that a quantitative comparison has limits but that Piker's observation was not antisemitic.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is Piker's preference for Hamas over Israel and what it justifies. He restates the comparison's basis and says it is hard to argue against, which defends it. Minimized is the closest alternative, but he does not downplay Hamas's conduct here; he argues the comparison is correct. This interview predates the April 12 Pod Save America exchange. Evidence: a direct quotation in the publication's own interview.
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- Published here
More from this case
Read the full casePiker defends his Israel–Hamas comparison in Axios interview
“This is intentionally a provocative statement, but it’s also something that I personally believe as well. I’m not being insincere when I say this.”Read statement
Symone D. Sanders Townsend rejects Piker’s policing analogy
“I’m going to let Eugene move on, but I just want to note, it sounds like the example that you just gave that the people who are protesting the police are Hamas. And I just would reject that as somebody who has protested the police before, but we can move on.”Read statement
Piker reaffirms the comparison on MS NOW: “I do believe that”
“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.”Read statement
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- The Dispute Index
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- Hasan Piker tells The New Republic he stands by the basic sentiment of his Hamas comparison
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- https://disputeindex.com/events/4815-asked-by-the-new-republic-about-his-post
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The Dispute Index. "Hasan Piker tells The New Republic he stands by the basic sentiment of his Hamas comparison". First published: 2026-10-06. Last updated: 2026-10-06. https://disputeindex.com/events/4815-asked-by-the-new-republic-about-his-post