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🌊 Blood on the Twitch Stream?
A look at Hasan Piker, who’s been blamed for Wednesday’s terror attack
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By Max Frost
On Wednesday night, a young man walked into Washington, DC’s Capitol Jewish Museum, where an event for young Jewish diplomats was ongoing. The man wandered around the room before being asked to leave. Upon doing so, he waited outside.
As attendees left the event around 9 PM, the man was spotted "pacing back and forth." He then approached a group of four people, “produced a handgun,” and fired it 21 times, fatally wounding an Israeli man, 30, and an American woman, 26.
The man then discarded the gun, walked into a museum, and chanted, “Free, free Palestine.” Upon being arrested, he said, “I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza.” The shooter was subsequently identified as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez, a non-profit worker from Chicago.
The shooting produced mixed reactions. While not necessarily endorsing the killings, many critics of Israel labeled it the inevitable outcome of the continued war in Gaza. Others did not agree – including a group that placed the blame on Hasan Piker.
Just two days before the shooting, Piker – a Twitch streamer who is one of the left’s most influential current events commentators – hosted BadEmpanada, an Australian leftist, on his show. Last year, BadEmpanada said:
Israel can only carry out its genocide due to being backed by the US. Americans, if you want to stop them, take action. Those who enable this genocide have names and addresses…It is so easy to get a gun in your country.
When Piker had BadEmpanada on his show this Monday, someone tweeted, “Hasan is going to get people killed.”
Then the attack happened.
Immediately after, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, blamed “this gamer, Hasan Piker, who regularly employs awful genocidal rhetoric.”
Asmongold, another influential Twitch streamer, then jumped in:
I think that a lot of people are massively downplaying how big of a deal it is. You have a named person [Piker], that is being connected to an active terror attack, who has a history of supporting terrorist organizations.
In today’s deep-dive, we look at who Piker is, what he’s said, and whether he deserves any of the blame for what happened in DC on Wednesday night.
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Editor’s Note
We really want your thoughts on this one. Is it fair to blame Piker and co. for what happened in DC? Are the statements by Greenblatt and others an attack on Piker’s right to free speech? Where’s the line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism? Let us know by replying to this email.
And in case you’ve missed our latest batch of stories, here they are:
And here are a couple of replies from yesterday that we wanted to share:
Steve wrote:
Great read and information on Miller. The only issue I take is you left out the results of the Duke LaCrosse case, which like many was a lie from the left. Many, even those that read your news feed, will not know or understand how that case was resolved.
Great work and I appreciate your approach to these matters!
Editor’s note:
If it wasn’t clear in the article, the Duke lacrosse players were falsely accused and exonerated.
Jonny wrote:
It always makes me chuckle when people write in to your inbox saying you've been featuring one "side" more than the other. If they had a real opinion about something that could potentially raise an issue with the article at hand, it would be much more beneficial for society at large if they were to voice said opinion instead of being accusatory. Alas, your reporting was contrary to their beliefs and they felt threatened by it. Keep up the great work!
And Tom wrote:
I agree with Deb’s message [alleging a left-wing slant at Roca], 100%! Hate to see it, but lately it’s been like you got a funding infusion from Alex or George Soros.
Do better.
The last reply made us laugh. Thanks for reading and please keep writing. We won’t be publishing tomorrow in honor of Memorial Day. See you back here on Tuesday!
–Max and Max