Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur barred from entering UK, SXSW London

T.🍉45

The UK just banned two people for saying Israel controls Western politics, and in doing so, confirmed exactly that. The ban itself proves the point.

Maria W. Norris11

The UK approaches Palestine from a colonial counterinsurgency lens, where the label of 'extremism' can be deployed as a way of controlling minorities and stamping down dissent. bsky.app/profile/mari...

Divine Discontent9

I find it sad that so many equate simply stating that the arguable genocidal tactics that Benji has done to the people of Gaza for the last few years is somehow the same thing as being anti-Jewish. I'm anti-civilian slaughter, whether it be 1 or 100,000. That's apparently not allowed.

Ivor Middleton5

Note the Raed Salah 2011 precedent. Salah took the Home Secretary to court and won. His ban was overturned.

MissMarplesBack4

New York hosting a man so proud of the 2 ongoing genocides created by ISRAEL. It’s pretty evident that Israel have taken over the senate & congress. America is now Israel’s bitch. Israel is & always will drain the American economy for their own benefit.

Geoff B4

What did you expect ? You know so many Labour and Conservative MPs have taken money from Israel. Starmer is frightened of offending Israel . Its as simple as that .

Cenk literally named his show after the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide.

Ginger Bear Dad🏳️‍🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺3

England strikes yet again, fuck8ng Fascists! #EndTheUnion

Warriorcatv22

Fucks sake. Really? I'm not a fan of either of them but banning them is absurd. It's not like they're acting like Kanye or Yaxley, actively sparking violence or calling for genocide.

Piker has expressed support for Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are proscribed terrorist organisations in the UK. It's absolutely right that he shouldn't be permitted to come here and do things like that. www.jewishnews.co.uk/hasan-piker-...

jbl23.bsky.social19

Disagree Lewis, we have enough of our own rabble rousing ignorance and people willing to do this country harm , why would you want to allow imported seditious people into the country, when countries like America arrest our citizens and illegally incarcerate them for the crime of presence in USA

dRac18

I have zero issue with this. We don't allow the far right equivalents in, why do we need someone who actively supports literal terror groups

Jonty Edwards15

He’s not a journalist. He’s not been banned, his ETA was revoked and he was told to apply for a visa. The same reasons for the ETA revocation were the same used when the Home Office revoked ETAs for a number of far right activists last month.

Andrew Jacobs15

“Without compelling reason”? If someone repeatedly used anti-Muslim tropes, praised extremists, and inflamed community tensions, many now objecting would ask why the HO had not acted. The question is whether the threshold was met, not whether entry to the UK is an automatic free speech right.

Gnasher14

Yet the government made a good honest copper take early retirement when he tried to ban foreign football thugs.

Raymond 🌴🦩13

Compared to some other people's views theirs are relatively mild, but of course Labour is terrified of the anti-Semitic tag so capitulates to the people that don't want said commentators to speak their views. Pathetic!

aiteall.bsky.social12

All of the British political Establishment from Farage to Starmer try to supress pro-Palestinian speakers. Many complain about Russian interference in British politics. Very few about Israeli influence.

Shane11

We are on a very slippery slope. And this under a Labour government. Imagine how much worse it’s going to get.

Jules10

There is a line between freedom of speech and stirring up division and promoting conspiracies in the process. Promoting the support of Hamas, Hezbollah and stating 9/11 was 'deserved', will be a gift to the far right who want to stir hate in the UK as much as it would be to their own supporters.

Elliott Thomas9

I have watched Hasan, while very crude in a lot of his takes, he's not even a bad guy, streaming for 8 hours a day for 5-6 days a week makes him a great target for smears and out of content quotes because of his advocacy on Israel's continuing genocide. He's someone I'd love to see you chat with.

Alex Sowden8

Evidence suggests that Hasan Piker is a crank and a thoroughly nasty piece of work. He should not be welcomed to the UK.

Martin Greenaway8

Quite right Lewis, what this country's discourse needs right now is more foreign Twitter influencers to sort everything out, not fewer. /s

Ryan Morgan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️7

Banning Hasan from the UK is perhaps one of the clearest demonstrations of the disconnect between what people (largely older) believe is the “mainstream” discourse on the left and the actual mainstream. Whatever you think of Hasan he is one of the biggest left wing commentators in the US and UK now

Climate News6

True. But why was the objectionable President of Israel invited to the UK?

Iain5

The guy promotes Hezbollah. The best reason for banning his entry is that it saves the criminal justice service the effort of taking him straight from Heathrow to jail.

Graham Simpson5

This government is quick to ban, as you say, counterproductive

@stefanpaetow.bsky.social4

There are several other non-US commentators banned because of their support for Palestine... Makes you think.

Rob Gomm3

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Any issues with banning a sitting MEP? Valentina Gomez? I don't.

Viscount Pontypandy3

Starmer and his cabal are control freaks. They are attacking the very fabric of democracy, free speech and the right to peaceful protest and the motive is almost exclusively to promote & enforce zionist norms in UK society. In its own way it mirrors, or seeks to mirror, Trump’s America!

Paul Russell3

It starts off as a power to be used only in ‘exceptional’ circumstances and then, once we’re sufficiently softened up, it quickly becomes routine.

Unreadylee3

I don't even need to read this to know that they are not right-wing, racist or anti-trans, anti-gay, anti-abortion. If they were the Daily Fail and friends would be apoplectic with shouting "free speech, free speech"

Steven Feldman3

Does the proliferation of antisemitism conspiracy theories not represent a reasonable ground for banning them, particularly after the last couple of months of attacks on Jews?

"don't support proscibed terrorist organisations" is a low bar, but one that "pro-Palestinians" repeatedly fail to clear

4017xan.bsky.social2

Why would the Zionist Labour Government not silence foreign critics of Israel be denying them entry? The silence UK critics of Israel by bringing the whole weight of the police & the law down on them. Even the UN judges our laws against protest excessive.

rot economy critic2

Nice blocklist in the replies here

Louise Fairbairn2

Pretty sure they can make their opinions known to a UK audience without us having them in the UK in person...

NHS is FKD2

Put in an FOI. Get the exact reason. Far too many batshit people on this app openly just as bad as the right for misinformation now.

Pez dorado2

They do know he has a massive following online, accessible from the UK, right?

Isabel2

Hasan Piker, according to the Jewish News, has said “Hamas is a thousand times better than Israel”, which is why, I assume, our pro-Israel govt is banning him

Hannah 🌹🏳️‍🌈2

Do you think that the Government was right to ban Kanye West? Yes or No?

Michael Cleary2

Or, potentially, fck these guys?

Lydia Lancet2

If they are not inciting hate or violence towards any person or group, then this is WRONG. Who is running our country, is the right wing media holding government to account?

Jordan37

It’s genuinely incredible watching Labour make every incorrect decision presented to them.

まり18

TERF island is willing to damage it's reputation on the world stage, and decimate it's own economy if it means they can become closed off from the world as a little "whites only" fascist ethnostate. Brexit is the clearest possible indication of the values of England.

Jachra 🏳️‍⚧️11

"Uygur, who co-hosts the YouTube series “The Young Turks,” and his nephew Piker" This is how I learn that Hasan is his nephew

Best of the Beedles (1966)5

I'm afraid the british have nae naed themselves again...

A Cup of Squids4

Not too surprising that they're this fervent in their defense of Israel; its creation was kinda their idea, after all

Daniel Rigal 🇪🇺 🦋2

It started more than a decade ago buy it's literally the ten year anniversary of the Brexit referendum this month. That was our crossing the Rubicon, only this Rubicon was a open sewer rather than a fairly pleasant shallow river. The flagshaggers are going to be even more insufferable than usual.

Oli2

Honestly an embarrassing clown car of a country at this point

Ron James8

It’s gonna be hard to get anyone to admit that creating an Israeli state out of whole cloth was a mistake. After 6 million Jewish people were sought out and murdered across Europe we all feel sympathy…but Netanyahu has bombed that sympathy away.

People going fking mad, it's been 80 years, it's time to judge them by their current actions

PaulV 🍉3

Old democrats need to leave. The newer generation will be ruthless (I hope)

vl2024.bsky.social3

Israel’s version of the Holocaust - @schumer.senate.gov = complicit

Vishal P. Singh 🇵🇸🇱🇧🏳️‍⚧️2

The leadership of the Democrats marched with the far right in a far right rally because the leadership of the Democrats ARE far right.

Zoroastrian10

This timeline is hideous. UK now so far to the right, it's borderline fascist. Labour party about as socialist as the Oswald Moseley. We are now officially in the 1930s. Now appeasing the fascist Zionist regime in Israel as well as the daily Trump kissing of the ring. It's abhorrent.

Margaret. Ms. Sanger if you’re nasty.9

Fck that UK. Shame on you.

Cassidy (radically pro-transgender)4

Cenk Uygur is not at all left wing.

Sam Spade4

Just a heads up the dude Cenk is far from a leftist in America he was and always will be right wing. He was plays a good game but he is hard right wing.

wintersmyth.bsky.social3

We shouldn’t ban people for legitimate criticism of any state.

Adam M2

I find this so fucking offensive. Damn Starmer and his gaggle of genocide enablers.

skol87.bsky.social2

This is pretty embarrassing. Hasan and Cenk must actually be persuading people if they are getting banned from a western country because they.... ????

crash30

USA: the bar is on the floor. UK: the bar is in hell.

Rav28

Well that’ll certainly show him. I’m sure Labour has forced him into silence, and no one will pay attention to this action. 🫠

Doremus Jessup17

Ah yes, surely THIS will make everyone forget that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. Oops! 🙊

Tom From Minneapolis5

correction: after pressure from pro-genocide groups

Pedro McQ3

Well, we can’t have people hearing a different perspective, or the truth.

john20

Even named his podcast after the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide. Which should have been a huge red flag for anyone on the left/ progressive side.

Ben Sowton3

They’ve just banned The Young Turks founder from entering the country. This is all down to Israel’s hold over our government with donations. Just look at the declassified documents. Over half the cabinet received donations www.declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby...

Paul Russell3

One difficulty here is that the govt has not (to my knowledge) made explicit the specific reason for the ban. ‘Inconducive to public order’ is unacceptably vague and gives fuel to the claim that anti-Israeli sentiment is routinely conflated with antisemitism. Which statements are illegal and why?

no_tag_error2

Of course Mr Ball favors banning him. open.substack.com/pub/keppler/...

Emma™19

UK government hears turkish man do a perfect 1:1 british accent, asks him to leave

Cameron12

This is how I felt literally every time I wore a dress

Liana12

oi mate do you have a loicense for that dress

Pine Cellar5

Hasan is cute af even in a wonky ass princess dress

𝕭𝖚𝖉𝖌𝖊𝖙 𝕯𝖎𝖘𝖓𝖊𝖞 𝕻𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖘𝖘 ™3

The right wing say they hate this but yet they always have a chubby when they see it

Arms for the poor3

I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I WAS INTO THIS!!

Mia ✨🏳️‍⚧️3

You think they'd let him in considering all those "don't tell Hasan your trans" posts.

Valerie (and Viktor)2

would the dutch ban him for wearing this or do they have other requirements like do you have to wear wooden shows to go there or something

Dez2

Goddamn it. This is hot.

FrancisFukyomomma11

He's welcome in Dublin anytime, he was here last month. You know: that small country everyone LIKES.

FrancisFukyomomma9

As Irish people would say, the Brits are at it again.

András Forgács W7

Careful, the fanbase is out for blood

thebelovedaunt.bsky.social5

Excellent news. Notable too that, just like his far right counterparts on the other tip of the horseshoe, he indulges in a generous dose of "lol, who cares about women being raped" misogyny as well.

Chris Bertram5

A general principle that people denying sexual violence and other war crimes in the Israel-Palestine conflict should be banned from the UK is no doubt what was applied here

Bong Barbie, the Barbie with the Bong5

What did he say that is a bridge too far for you? Rapes don't justify a genocide? Was it calling the people destroying food and other aid at the peak of the Gaza famine because they want a jewish ethnostate inbred? Come on, what time did he criticize your favorite genocidal ethnostate was too far?

FrancisFukyomomma4

He's a perfectly normal person picking up another 20,000 viewers every time this happens; this is gonna backfire almost immediately. Driving a huge wedge further between the UK and the US population. they do not like this here, not on the left, not on the right.

Baudouin Petit4

Britain under zionist Starmer is abandoning its tradition of freedom and free speech. Time to resist this unbearable destruction of western values, time for courage to dare oppose the racist, terrorist, genocidal, antisemitic Israeli State.

FrancisFukyomomma2

You just supercharged him yet again, every time this happens it's like someone injected him with a Marvel super-serum that expands his reach.

Armin T. Wegner2

Why do you call him a bigot ?

A Well Known Comical Stereotype2

Yeah, just keep making stuff up. I hope you enjoy being ruled from Israel. I remember when the Brits thought they were in charge. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Still licking boots, so no change there.

Peter Adamson 5

Not disputing this viewpoint, but my understanding is that this guy supports Hamas. So he's supporting a proscribed organisation. That makes the decision easier.

James Austin4

To be fair the HO appears to have stepped up its revoking of visa's recently - quite a lot of far-right figures were blocked ahead of the unite the kingdom rally etc

Carol is on a list somewhere 😏3

The UK *only* seems to care whether you believe Palestinians are human beings, with rights. If you do, better stay home! The UK, from all evidence, loves transphobes, so you’ll see plenty of others (as long as they also support genocide). 😑

Matt Darling6

"These people are valueless simpletons who make our culture and country worse " Whomst amongst us cannot the same be said of?

PointyShinyBurning3

I guess with Kanye you could say he was likely to do Incitement to Racial Hatred which is an actual crime whereas simply being a dipshit ala Hasan/Cenk is not.

Fair enough. But I do sometimes wonder late at night if free speech has become an instrument of fascism only.