Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker defended his rhetoric calling Hamas "a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state" of Israel on Sunday despite acknowledging it was "intentionally provocative.""I say that on purpose," Piker told Rolling Stone Magazine."I want to force people to really think about what I’m saying.
I want to challenge them to think about it a little bit."Piker made the comment in an X post from January and has since doubled and tripled down on the claim while facing backlash.Though he conceded that he would likely alienate fewer people by simply saying Israel was "worse" than Hamas, Piker told the magazine that it wasn't his style.MARK HALPERIN CALLS HASAN PIKER A 'HORRIBLE PERSON' AS DEMOCRATS FACE PRESSURE TO DISTANCE FROM STREAMERHasan Piker, a streamer and creator, previously claimed that Hamas was "a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state" of Israel. (Sportsfile via Getty Images)"First of all, everyone says that," Piker said.
"I’m not interested in the many bad things Hamas has done.I’m trying to get people to understand why someone becomes Hamas.
Do I agree with everything they do? Of course not.I’ve called out their war crimes myself.
But the point is to make people identify from their perspective.Palestinians have lived under this brutal occupation for 75 years.
Put yourself in their shoes."In the same article, Rolling Stone Magazine reported that the Democratic Party had a more favorable opinion of Palestinian people than the Israelis with the Israeli government ranking only three points higher than Hamas, suggesting Piker's opinions were more mainstream than they appeared.Piker joked that the backlash he faced for his comments were a result of "having the correct position too early."CONTROVERSIAL STREAMER HASAN PIKER'S LECTURE AXED BY UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON AMID FREE SPEECH QUESTIONSStill, he didn't regret his hyperbolic comments made on his livestreams or e...