Left-wing favorite Hasan Piker has been banned from the streaming platform Twitch after he suggested that the killings of two Israeli embassy diplomats in Washington, DC, might have been part of a "false flag" operation.
Piker, 33, claimed that his account, which boasts over 2.8 million followers, was suspended due to his "critical examination" of the manifesto linked to suspected attacker Elias Rodriguez. Rodriguez has been accused of opening fire and killing two Israeli embassy employees, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, outside the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday evening as they were attending a peace summit. Piker claimed the attack had all the hallmarks of being a "false flag operation."
Bizarre Rant Gents Account Suspended
A false flag refers to an incident intentionally orchestrated to appear as if another group was responsible, in order to shift the blame onto them. Sick conspiracy theorists have suggested that the shooting at the Jewish museum was staged to undermine the pro-Palestinian movement, but Piker clarified that he did not directly believe that Wednesday's attack was staged.
"I'm not 'Mr. False Flag' at all, but, like, every single thing that [Rodriguez] did in the aftermath of the shooting is so f–king crazy that it's like, you could not have designed a f–king incident like this. You could not have decided a better false flag incident like this," Piker said during the live stream, which was also shared to his 1.6 million YouTube followers on Friday.
"I'm not saying it is a false flag incident at all, I'm not saying that, I think this is just one dude who is genuine in his actions and maybe a little bit brain broken," he added.
Piker revealed the temporary suspension through a post on his social media accounts.
"I believe this is a bad policy for news and press freedom", he posted on X, and shared a screenshot of the email he received on Saturday informing him of his temporary suspension from the streaming platform.
Hard to Handle
Piker, known online as HasanAbi, was banned for "Improper Handling of Terrorist Propaganda" and for "Sharing content related to terrorist or violent extremist groups," according to the screenshot of Twitch's message he posted on X.
He defended his actions by saying he was examining the alleged shooter Rodriguez's manifesto from a journalistic perspective.
However, the self-proclaimed socialist — often referred to as "the leftist Joe Rogan" — faced backlash, with many accusing him of promoting antisemitic views under the guise of high-minded commentary.
"You called it a false flag. You hate the Jewish people and you are antisemitic," one X user wrote in response, something Piker was quick to deny.
"Ironically enough, I was showing his motive to dispel the rumors of a false flag, which is the reason for this suspension but i don't think you're capable of critical thought," he retorted." Promoting hate will get you banned," another X user wrote.
The suspension comes just weeks after Piker was questioned by U.S. immigration authorities after arriving in Chicago from France.
He claimed that officials interrogated him about previous remarks that some critics interpreted as expressing support for groups like Hamas and the Houthis.
