Left-wing darling Hasan Piker joined a loud chant of the anti-Israeli slur “from the river to the sea” at the end of his controversial star appearance at New York’s Cornell University, shocking video shows.
The New Jersey-born socialist provocateur, who sparked fury with his 2019 claims that America deserved 9/11, joined in as most of his audience Sage Chapel at Thursday’s event proudly chanted the call, which is widely seen as hate speech implying the destruction of Israel.
It came after Piker called on the audience of the Ivy League institution’s “Students Not Bombs” campaign to “maintain revolutionary optimism, always.”
“On that note, if you want to join me in a protest chant,” the event moderator, who had a keffiyeh draped around her, told the audience and her star guest.
“From the river to the sea…” the moderator chanted, with the audience loudly responding, “Palestine will be free.”
Piker, 35, raised his microphone to his mouth and was heard mumbling his part of the response,
The antisemitic slur, which calls for the eradication of Israel, was repeated two more times before a man sitting on the benches led a chant of “Free, free Palestine,” with Piker again raising his mic and mumbling in response.
The streamer was met with loud cheers and treated like a rock star as he left.
Piker spoke at the event, which was organized by the university’s Student for Justice in Palestine and Young Democratic Socialists of America movements, on the same day that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shredded New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani at the United Nations General Assembly for his friendship with the streamer.
Footage of the chants prompted critics to label Cornell a “bastion of hate.”
“Pretty disappointed in Cornell for this one,” one horrified viewer said.
“Disgusted that Cornell gave Hasan Piker a platform today,” a graduate said. “As an alum, I am embarrassed and outraged. Cornell, what are you thinking? You can do better.”
Others were stunned that the event was held in Sage Chapel, which was the first nonsectarian chapel at a US college when it opened in 1875.
In the build-up to Piker’s appearance, the university’s Hillel chapter said the influencer’s views “ go against our values as Americans and Jews,” and described his “hateful rhetoric” as “repulsive.”
A petition by SAFE Campus, a Jewish advocacy group, urged Cornell, state and federal officials to call off the event.
The petition alluded to Cornell claims that it had taken “a clear and strong stand” against antisemitism following the October 7, 2023, terror attacks.
Piker’s appearance came less than a year after the university agreed to pay $60 million in a settlement to the Trump administration to resolve investigations into campus antisemitism.
The agreement resulted in around $250 million in federal research funding being unfrozen.
Piker justified the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, saying the massacre that killed roughly 1,200 innocents was a “direct consequence of Israeli actions” and that “it doesn’t matter if f–king rapes happened on Oct. 7.”
Piker, the nephew of Cenk Uygur, the founder of the Young Turks, has raised eyebrows with his outlandish perspectives on the Middle East.
Earlier this month, the streamer, who has previously spoken at University of South California and Dartmouth University, wildly claimed that the region “would be more stable” if Iran had nuclear weapons.
“I think Iran, much like any other sovereign nation, has a right to defend itself, regardless of its domestic policies,” he told Axios correspondent Alex Thompson.
Piker has stumped with the Michigan US Senate candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, during the primary election and said far-left New York congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is his preferred pick for the 2028 presidential election.
