{"id":2655395,"date":"2026-09-06T13:42:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/raskin-dismisses-pikers-pro-hamas-sentiment-as-irrelevant-distraction\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T13:44:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:44:24","slug":"raskin-dismisses-pikers-pro-hamas-sentiment-as-irrelevant-distraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/raskin-dismisses-pikers-pro-hamas-sentiment-as-irrelevant-distraction\/","title":{"rendered":"Raskin dismisses Piker&#8217;s pro-Hamas sentiment as &#8216;irrelevant distraction&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fraskin-dismisses-pikers-pro-hamas-sentiment-as-irrelevant-distraction%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2655395&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rep.Jamie Raskin (D-MD) dismissed pro-Hamas remarks by left-wing commentator Hasan Piker as an &#8220;irrelevant distraction&#8221; that won&#8217;t impact the midterm elections. Piker has gained attention for his favorable comments about Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, including his statement that he would vote for Hamas over Israel. This has caused outrage among some Democrats. <\/p>\n<p>House Democrat Hillary Scholten condemned Piker and distanced herself from democratic nominee Abdul el Sayed in Michigan due to his association with Piker, although they remain linked over anti-Israel views. Raskin emphasized that support for Hamas is universally rejected and suggested that the focus should be on opposing Donald Trump in the upcoming elections. <\/p>\n<p>El Sayed, who is running for Michigan&#8217;s Senate seat, has publicly distanced himself from Piker but shares similar progressive and anti-Israel views. Both Piker and el Sayed have appeared together at campaign events, though their political differences exist. Piker&#8217;s comments and associations have drawn criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, with accusations of antisemitism.Raskin emphasized that political disputes over Israel do not belong in the midterm election narrative.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jamie-raskin\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"7639\">Jamie Raskin<\/a> (D-MD) dismissed left-wing political commentator <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hasan-piker\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"22479\">Hasan Piker\u2019s<\/a> pro-Hamas remarks as an \u201cirrelevant distraction\u201d that he believes will not affect the outcome of the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/midterm-elections\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"308\">midterm elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piker has been in the headlines for his glowing comments about <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hamas\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"218\">Hamas<\/a>, which attacked <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/israel\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"219\">Israel<\/a> on Oct. 7, 2023. In a recent interview, the progressive figure said he \u201cwould vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.\u201d This has prompted outrage from certain Democrats.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4715441\/raskin-hasan-piker-hamas-israel-midterm-elections\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Raskin dismisses Hasan Piker\u2019s pro-Hamas sentiment as \u2018irrelevant distraction\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4714406\/midterm-countdown-republicans-find-boogeymen-voter-sentiment-kamala-and-data-centers\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Midterm Countdown: Republicans find their boogeymen<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4713682\/tea-party-patriots-action-founder-poll-watching-in-person-training-midterms\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Activist group accelerates poll-watching training ahead of midterm elections<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI), for example, publicly denounced Piker and withheld her endorsement of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/abdul-el-sayed\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"23138\">Abdul el Sayed<\/a>, the Democratic nominee for the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"8765\">Senate<\/a> race in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/michigan\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"655\">Michigan<\/a>, due to his association with Piker. El Sayed has responded by distancing himself from Piker, though the two remain closely linked over their anti-Israel views.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked by NBC News\u2019s <em>Meet the Press<\/em> host Kristen Welker if Piker should be included in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/democratic-party\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"288\">Democratic Party<\/a>, Raskin said he doesn\u2019t know if the Twitch streamer \u201cconsiders himself a Democrat\u201d because Piker criticized the Jewish congressman for campaigning with el Sayed and other Democratic candidates in Michigan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nonetheless, Raskin said, \u201cAll of that is an irrelevant distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cObviously, nobody supports Hamas, a terrorist organization which brutally attacked Israel on Oct. 7,\u201d he added. \u201cBut people here also don\u2019t support the policies of Bibi Netanyahu. But we\u2019re not going to be able to work that out in the next 60 days.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rather, the House Democrat argued, the party\u2019s focus should be on President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"4\">Donald Trump<\/a> and his policies for the midterm elections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats are seeking to retake control of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/congress\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"31\">Congress<\/a> this fall. Republicans are more at risk of losing their narrow majority in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/house\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"11272\">House<\/a>, but Democrats are similarly eyeing control of the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"8765\">Senate<\/a>. El Sayed is one such Democrat running for the upper chamber. In November, he will face former Michigan Republican Rep. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mike-rogers\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"1022\">Mike Rogers<\/a> for the state\u2019s open Senate seat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4712197\/abdul-el-sayed-stephen-a-smith-hasan-piker-followers\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"4712197\">EL SAYED TELLS STEPHEN A. SMITH THAT HE\u2019S \u2018THINKING ABOUT THE 3 MILLION PEOPLE WHO LISTEN\u2019 TO HASAN PIKER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">El Sayed and Piker have appeared together in public at several campaign events early in the 2026 primary election cycle before controversy swirled around the internet personality. Their politics slightly differ \u2014 Piker is a self-described socialist, whereas el Sayed is a progressive who welcomes support from the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/democratic-socialists-of-america\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"5861\">Democratic Socialists of America<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both Democrats and Republicans have accused Piker of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/antisemitism\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"376\">antisemitism<\/a> regarding his critical remarks about Israel and Jewish Americans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Raskin dismisses Piker\u2019s pro-Hamas comments as distraction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2159,"featured_media":2655396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-collage-u00z7jmll-1788713874715-e1788714676546.jpg?1788700279&amp;w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[6672,50400,4188,5894,6022],"class_list":["post-2655395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-commentary","tag-hamas-2","tag-media","tag-politics","tag-raskin"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-collage-u00z7jmll-1788713874715-e1788714676546.jpg?1788700279&amp;w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2655395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2655395"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2655395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2655398,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2655395\/revisions\/2655398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2655396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2655395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2655395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2655395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}