Rep. Ritchie Torres Warns of ‘Amplification of Anti-Semitism’ by Twitch Streamer Hasan Piker

Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres is sounding the alarm about “an explosion of Jew-hatred” on the online streaming platform Twitch since the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack by Hamas — naming popular political commentator Hasan Piker, according to a copy of a letter obtained exclusively by The Post .

The South Bronx lamb watcher stated in the Oct. 29 letter to Twitch CEO Daniel Clancy that “the time has come for Twitch to stop popularizing those who popularize anti-Semitism” — like Piker, who has one of the largest accounts on the platform with 2.7 million followers. and was a recognized streamer at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“Since October 7, there has been an explosion of Jew-hatred on social media platforms,” Torres wrote. “Hasan Piker has emerged as the role model for the outbreak of anti-Semitism in America after October 7.”

Torres, 36, blasted Clancy for hosting Piker and other streamers who railed against the Jewish people, praised the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and vowed to “take back our country from these Jewish supremacists.”

“If the KKK or the Third Reich were a social media platform, it would be Twitch,” Torres thundered.

The congressman quoted Piker, who hatefully called a Jewish man a “bloodthirsty, violent pig dog,” claimed that “it doesn’t matter if the rape happened on October 7,” and defended Iran’s Lebanon-based terrorist organization Hezbollah.

“To platform any of these terrorist organizations, as Piker has done, is incomprehensible,” Torres said, adding that the streamer’s “incitement to violence should be closely monitored by federal law enforcement.”

“Piker has even gone so far as to tell his followers to ‘kill’ and ‘murder’ people ‘in the streets’ and ‘soak the streets in their red-capitalist blood,’” the lawmaker noted.

The extreme left-wing Piker also jokes about it incitement to gun violence against Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), praised a “brave mujahideen” for wounding Texas GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw in the battle and claimed that “America deserved the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,” in which nearly 3,000 people died.

Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, lost his right eye to an IED explosion while deployed to Afghanistan in 2012.

Another recent video showed Piker and a friend laughing at an undecided female voter in Pennsylvania who emphasized to Vice President Kamala Harris during a CNN town hall last week: “We have to bring the hostages home.”

Hamas kidnapped 254 people from Israel – including 12 Americans – and returned them to the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.

Four US citizens were later executed in captivity by the terrorist group, another four were released in a prisoner swap – and four remain hostages.

“It makes you wonder if Mr. Piker has ever seen an anti-American or anti-Semitic terrorist attack that he didn’t like?” Torres asked Clancy in the letter, which also references a post in which the streamer compared himself to Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. “He seems to live in a morally inverted universe where the real terrorists of 9/11 and 10/7 were not the perpetrators, but the victims.”

“I have a simple question for Mr. Piker and his folks at Twitch,” the congressman continued. “What exactly do you find funny? Are you amused by anti-Semitism? Amused by the kidnapping of 30 children, including babies and toddlers? Amused by the kidnapping of elderly Holocaust survivors and Farhud?

Torres accused Clancy of being an “admirer” of Piker, whom the CEO praises for “his candor and bluntness” and for being “comfortable saying what he believes.”

“If Twitch feels even the slightest semblance of social responsibility as a company — a questionable proposition considering the business you have — then the time has come for Twitch to stop popularizing those who popularize anti-Semitism,” the congressman added .

Torres suggested an investigation in Congress if Twitch allowed anti-Semitism to spread.

In January, Piker made headlines by interviewing a Houthi rebel from Yemen who hijacked a ship and became a TikTok sensation before being banned by the social media app.

Neither Clancy nor Twitch representatives immediately responded to a request for comment.