“Giving Hamas an Iron Dome:” Hasan Piker’s Tirade at Cornell

CENTRAL CAMPUS— On Thursday, September 24, 2026, prominent socialist political commentator Hasan Piker spoke on the campus of Cornell University at Sage Chapel.

Shortly after the event was announced, a Cornellians For Israel post containing quotes from the public statements of Piker, who streams under the name “HasanAbi” on Twitch, including:

“He said ‘America deserved 9/11, dude,’ adding, ‘We fucking totally brought it on ourselves.’”

“He dismissed reports of sexual violence on October 7 as ‘rape fantasies’ and ‘rape hallucinations,’ and later said, ‘It doesn’t matter if rapes fucking happened on Oct. 7.’”

“He equated the United States with the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah: ‘If Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, [then] America is the top terrorist organization. Which it is, by the way.’”

Earlier in the day, FOX News reporters were on campus conducting interviews. 

The speech was hosted in Sage Chapel, which is frequently used for religious ceremonies, and was delivered from the pulpit. Attendees had to provide their NetIDs to sign in to the event. 

The event opened with a Cornell staff member describing the event as in keeping with Cornell’s commitment to free speech. On Piker’s livestream he can be heard describing the preface as a “free expression land acknowledgement.”

Piker was preceded by one keffiyeh-wearing Adriana Vink ‘27, who described herself as “organizer of the Students Not Bombs campaign… composed of Jewish Voices for Peace, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Young Democratic Socialists of America.” She continued, “As students at Cornell, we must understand our university’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.” 

Vink asked attendees to sign a petition for Students Not Bombs, saying “… Sign that s***right now, or Hasan Piker is not coming out.”

The Speech

After entering accompanied by cheers, Piker made a jab at Cornell University.

“One of your clinical law professors went on FOX News… said this would be akin to a Nazi rally, which is insane, and he said it on FOX News, which is the Nazi network.” “A new political reality is shaping all around us [sic], but that means there are also new opportunities,” Piker said. 

Audience members at least at one point during the event were chanting, “D-S-A” with reference to the Democratic Socialists of America in the same way the letters “U-S-A” are chanted with reference to the United States of America. 

Piker placed blame on “our system” for the problems Americans face, saying, “It is not the moral failing of the individual, but of an entire architecture, the ultra rich sticking their hands in the pockets of everyone else.” Piker continued, “Just as every person who has no shelter is a policy failure, every billionaire is, too, a policy failure.”

Piker addressed the allegations of antisemitism levied against him by calling them “heinous lies.” He also addressed the criticism he faced for saying that America deserved the 9/11 attacks, saying that they were “something I’ve apologized all the way back in 2019 for the language I used.”

Piker then criticized the student organization Cornellians for Israel.

“It is that hypocrisy that I can’t stand. That Cornellians for Israel could invite an Israel occupying force soldier, terrorist… and that same exact organization can turn around and say that ‘Hasan said America deserved 9/11 that’s far worse.’”

Hasan Piker completed his speech by referencing a quote from the cartoon television show Rick and Morty, saying, “I’ll leave you with these parting words: regardless of what they say, their boos mean nothing, for I’ve seen what makes them cheer, and together, we will become unbound, unbossed, and undeniable.” 

The Q&A Session

After being asked about the attacks he faced from the political mainstream, Hasan ascribed them to Zionists feeling threatened because of a public attitude shift. 

“I think this is the last gasp of a dying movement… This is the end of Zionism,” Piker said. “Those who support Israel don’t want to recognize this reality.”

The second questioner asked, “I was wondering how you see the 2023-24 student Intifada’s role in American public life?”

Piker believed that the protests had been at least in part effective. “We have now for the first time ever… politicians who are outwardly demanding an embargo on Israel.”  Jokingly, Piker spoke about “giving Hamas an Iron Dome, which we should, I’ve said that before, sell to both sides of the conflict— you can’t lose.”

In response to a question about the future of socialism in America, Piker expressed hope that after “marshalling a large enough force…” that socialists can “activate everywhere at all at once if necessary.”

Another questioner asked, “A lot of us would love to hear about your personal experience in Cuba… specifically what it was like being in a country that’s been under such a brutal economic siege from the entirety of the Global North.”

Piker responded by ascribing Cuba’s poverty to American sanctions: “I was taken aback by how beautiful Cuba is… but also very quickly I saw such devastating poverty. And it was man-made. Now, the Republicans and the American government will say that it’s the byproduct of communism, that it was central planning and that’s the reason why there is so much destruction in Cuba, but no, it was man-made in the other direction. It was our fault.”

Hasan dismissed the concerns of the Cuban-American community, saying “If you were to ask every single American, with maybe the exceptions of, you know, Cuban Americans living in Florida, most of them would be horrified of what we’re doing.” 

After being asked about ICE recruiting on Cornell’s campus, Piker said, “If you got a Cornell education and then you fucking work at ICE, h*** s*** you’re a loser… What a waste of a phenomenal education, you’re signing up, and the guy next to you is illiterate, like, he can’t read, ‘oh I saw an AI ad, and I signed up’, and it’s like a f***ing incel.” 

Piker encouraged further protesting. “[Protesting] does work… if it didn’t, they wouldn’t try to suppress it.” 

One attendee described the event as “a bit disappointing.”

Hasan stated that his positions were popular and that the victory of his beliefs was assured. 

“We know we carry the moral majority on our side,” Piker said. “History will not reflect kindly on those who oppose us, and we will make these changes happen.”