Mehdi Hasan
Role at the time: Broadcaster and founder of Zeteo, co-writing a signed analysis piece with Andrew Perez
Statement summary
In a signed analysis piece for Zeteo co-written with Andrew Perez, Mehdi Hasan defended Piker's comparison as accurate on the specific measure Piker used, the number of deaths. The authors cited Brown University's Costs of War estimate of 432,000 civilians killed by direct post-9/11 war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Pakistan between 2001 and 2023, along with Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia, and argued that al-Qaeda's death toll bears no comparison. They said Axios's headline was calibrated to maximise outrage while crediting the outlet for interviewing Piker, and drew a parallel to Trump's 2017 remark to Bill O'Reilly that "we've got a lot of killers" and "do you think our country's so innocent?" They also characterised the wider response as a cancellation campaign. The casualty estimates are as the authors cite them and their characterisations of other actors are their own.
“Piker's comment, while obviously controversial, is objectively true. … Terror attacks by al-Qaeda have killed thousands of innocent people over the past three decades, but in terms of "the number of deaths" there is no real comparison to be made. … Yes, Trump lies all the time, but his point there was correct. So was Piker's.”
Signed analysis piece co-bylined by Andrew Perez and Mehdi Hasan, founder of Zeteo, published September 17, 2026. It defends Piker's comparison as accurate on death tolls, citing Brown University's Costs of War estimate of 432,000 civilians killed by direct post-9/11 war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Pakistan between 2001 and 2023, alongside Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia figures, and argues Axios's headline was calibrated for outrage. It draws a parallel to Trump's 2017 remark to Bill O'Reilly, "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country's so innocent?" It also reports reactions from CNN commentator Scott Jennings and activist Shannon Watts, characterised in the authors' own terms. Note a factual variance on the Minab strike: the piece says the airstrikes killed 150 people including more than 100 children, whereas Piker says 140 schoolgirls; neither figure is established here, and the UN fact-finding mission's report is recorded separately in this case.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
Hasan and Perez endorse it directly, calling it "objectively true" on the death-toll measure Piker specified and concluding "So was Piker's." That places them with Piker (955, 967) and opposite El-Sayed (956), Lara Trump (966) and Rogers (968). The closest competing label is “Challenged the characterization”, since much of the piece attacks Axios's headline and the wider coverage; it loses because the authors go on to affirm the underlying claim on the merits rather than only disputing how it was framed.