Benjamin Netanyahu Cites Hasan Piker's 9/11 Remark at UN, Has One of His Own

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday to tie New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, citing Piker's 2019 line that "America deserved 9/11." Piker's answer, delivered hours later on his HasanAbi stream, was to read aloud what he described as Netanyahu's own comments to The New York Times the night of the attacks.

"Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York. They talk to me," Netanyahu said. The speech came after dozens of delegations walked out of the hall as he took the podium.

What Netanyahu Said About Piker

"You praise criminals convicted of supporting Hamas. You count as friends people like Hasan Piker, who said America deserved 9/11," Netanyahu said. He went on to say Mamdani's wife "liked a post praising the October 7th massacre" and that the mayor had hosted "a Palestinian journalist who filmed Hamas terrorists beating and torturing Israeli hostages."

Netanyahu did not name the journalist or offer evidence for the claim in the speech. Piker identified him as Motaz Azaiza, a Palestinian photojournalist from Gaza, and rejected the characterization. "He's talking about Motaz," Piker said, adding that Azaiza has been "regularly condemned and criticized for being perhaps one of the most visible Hamas critics." Mamdani's statement after the speech did not address the accusation.

Piker, who said he was speaking from Ithaca, New York, ahead of an appearance at Cornell University, told viewers he had predicted the mention. "I thought, predictably, that he would mention my name as Zohran's friend, which is exactly what happened," he said.

He then turned to what he cast as Netanyahu's own record on the attacks. "I should have said 9/11 is good for us, like Benjamin Netanyahu did, literally the day after 9/11 or the day of 9/11, I think," Piker said, adding, "That's what he said. This is on the New York Times paper record."

The 2001 Quote, Word for Word

Piker's summary is a paraphrase, not Netanyahu's wording. The New York Times reported on September 12, 2001, that when Netanyahu, then a former prime minister, was asked what the attack meant for relations between the United States and Israel, he replied, "It's very good." The paper reported that he then edited himself: "Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy." He predicted the attack would "strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we've experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror."

Piker read that passage on air, including the walk-back, after first offering his shorter version. Netanyahu's UN remarks did not mention his own 2001 comment.

Piker's 2019 Remark and Its Aftermath

Netanyahu quoted Piker accurately. In August 2019, while reacting to a Joe Rogan interview with Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw, Piker said, "America deserved 9/11, dude," and Twitch suspended him for a week, Kotaku reported. Piker said at the time he should have used "more precise and better" language and that his point was about U.S. foreign policy.

The line has since surfaced in the Michigan Senate race, where Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed campaigned with Piker. PolitiFact rated as Pants on Fire a claim in an Aug. 5 press release posted on the campaign website of Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate nominee and a former U.S. House member, that El-Sayed himself said the U.S. deserved 9/11. The fact-check noted that Piker said in April that he "didn't mean that Americans deserved to die."

On Thursday, Piker cast the UN mention as confirmation of a long-running suspicion. "Perhaps my suspicions were correct. Perhaps, yes, there is a coordinated smear campaign," he said, adding that "it's safe to infer that the anti-Hasan Piker media fixation has been in part directed from Tel Aviv." He offered no evidence beyond the speech itself. He also repeated a line he posted on X during the address.

Mamdani's Response and the Polling

Mamdani said in a statement that Netanyahu "used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians," and that "no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity," CBS News reported. The ICC issued that warrant in November 2024; Israel rejects the court's jurisdiction and denies the charges.

Piker told viewers that "amongst New York Jews, Zohran Mamdani has a higher approval rating than Benjamin Netanyahu." The survey he appears to be describing was national, not New York-specific. An AP-NORC poll of more than 1,000 Jewish adults conducted in June found 44 percent viewed Mamdani favorably and 39 percent unfavorably, while Netanyahu was viewed favorably by 32 percent and unfavorably by 59 percent, according to a New York Daily News report on the poll.

Outside the UN, at least 100 protesters organized by Jewish Voice for Peace were arrested, according to organizers' count, including actress Susan Sarandon, comedian Hannah Einbinder, Chelsea Manning and New York City Council member Chi Ossé, The New Republic reported. Piker said he had joined the group that morning before leaving for Ithaca.

What Happens Next

Piker closed by mocking the prime minister for spending UN time on a streamer: "Oh, how far the mighty have fallen."

Whether the exchange changes anything in New York is less clear. Netanyahu's speech has handed Mamdani's critics a new clip and handed Piker a larger platform, while the 2001 quote Piker surfaced is likely to circulate alongside Netanyahu's own.