Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, an Atlantic Council senior fellow and regular contributor to The Atlantic, pulled no punches this week in condemning the New York Times for its latest friendly platforming of Hasan Piker – the hard-left streamer.
Piker sat down for a lengthy conversation with columnist Ross Douthat, which was published on Thursday under the title, “Hasan Piker Is Flirting With the Revolution.” Piker has previously been profiled by the paper in an April article titled, “A Progressive Mind in a MAGA Body” – which largely focused on his fitness routine.
Alkhatib took issue with The Times’s editorial choice to sit down with Piker and wrote, “Hasan Piker, a horrible pro-Jihad, pro-Hamas, pro-Houthi, pro- ‘resistance’ personality who literally incited violence against me & instigated violent death threats along with his side kick, the Bad Empanada, that required FBI intervention.”
Douthat spoke to Piker at length about political violence and some of his past statements, which led to Piker noting he also receives threats as a public figure. Alkhatib added that Pike “is not only claiming he won’t go to ‘TwitchCon’ streamer fest due to ‘safety concerns’, but is getting platformed by the NY Times Opinion page/editorial board.” He added:
The NYT Opinions editors told me to my face that my anti-Hamas and pro-peace views “aren’t representative of Palestinians” and are therefore unworthy of being featured in an opinion op-ed despite trying repeatedly to publish a piece there about Hamas’s horrendous behavior and how Palestinians in Gaza are not supportive of the terror group.
Instead, they are rolling out the red carpet for this individual who didn’t have “safety” concerns when speaking at pro-terror, pro-Hamas protests, conferences, and events, but is all of a sudden trying to paint himself as the victim. Shame on the New York Times and its editorial board for blocking actual Gazans from speaking and instead platforming non-Palestinian pro-terror voices to be the spokespersons for “revolution” and a whole host of nonsense that this horrid individual represents. Disgusting all around.
Piker has long stirred controversy with his comments about American power, having said in the past that “America deserved 9/11.” Piker has gone on to say things like, “Oh my God, if Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, America is the top terrorist organization, which it is, by the way. America is the top dog in terrorism and so is Israel” and “Oh my god, 9/11 2 is going to be so sick. Give Saudi Arabia a nuke so they can do 9/11 2.”
Douthat, notably, did not mention Hezbollah or 9/11 during his lengthy interview with Piker, according to a transcript of their discussion.
The post Native Gazan and Atlantic Writer Shreds the New York Times Over Hasan Piker Interview first appeared on Mediaite.
