By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt on Thursday responded to the shooting of two Israeli embassy aides in Washington, DC by calling for pro-Palestine Twitch streamer Hasan Piker to be deplatformed and criticism of Israel censored.
“I’m thinking about the New York Times doing a gauzy profile a few weeks ago of this gamer Hasan Piker who regularly employs awful, genocidal rhetoric against Jewish people and the Jewish state,” Greenblatt told CNN on Thursday.
“Like, extremists should not be empowered, people who spout prejudice should not be platformed,” he continued. “This is a moment where we need to look ourselves in the mirror and say, ‘we’ve got to stop this because the consequences are deadly.'”
“The ADL is already exploiting the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers to demand more limits on free speech, specifically demanding Israel critics with the large platforms – such as @HasanTheHun – be banned from speaking,” Glenn Greenwald commented on X.
“Can’t even wait 24 hours until demanding censorship.”
“Israel is an apartheid state doing a live-streamed genocide. I think it’s wrong and dangerous to conflate these heinous actions [with] Jews,” Piker responded on X. “The Apartheid Defense League doesn’t because they think they can improve Israel’s standing by silencing its critics. It won’t change the truth.” [Capitalization edited for readability]
Greenblatt is no stranger to violent rhetoric himself. During a speech before the Knesset in January, Greenblatt said that the kind of “genius” behind the Jewish state’s pager attack on Lebanon is now needed to fight antisemitism.
He later softened his stance due to optics concerns but it’s clear his desire to outlaw criticism of Israel remains the same.