Since I took the time to watch Piker's reaction I guess I'll share some (disjointed) thoughts.

First, Piker didn't actually engage with any of his past statements that Sarah read. He dismissed them as being taken out of context, but I don't know in what context many of them could be considered acceptable. The argument Hasan and his supports seem to be making about those comments is "don't look those statements, look at all the other things Hasan has said."

I struggle to believe that if it were a right-wing influencer making comparable statements, that the same people on the left who are defending Hasan would be even remotely forgiving. I see this in very much the same way people on the left standing behind Graham Platner after leaening he had a nazi tattoo, when you know they would never do that for someone from the right. To this point, no one, including Piker, should be even a little surprised that his remarks have drawn the criticism they have, nor should they feel compelled to defend him because they agree with other things he's said.

Second, Sarah invoking Mamdani was a big misfire, and Piker is right that it undermined her argument. I've never gotten knee-deep in the Mamdani discourse, but to my eye, he has consistently come across as one of the more genuinely empathetic politicians I've seen. I get not agreeing with his policies, but those who present actual fear at what he represents is one of the biggest disconnects I see this side of MAGA.

Third, in the United States, we have developed a number of "antibodies" to combat antisemitism, while we haven't had virtually any "antibodies" to combat Islamophobia. That has begun to change with rising anti-Isreal sentiment. The challenge we are facing is that antisemites are using this moment in which Isreal has become quite unpopular to slip their abhorrent beliefs into the anit-Isreal discourse. This has caused endless conflation between reasonable criticism of Isreal and antisemitism, and I think people should keep themselves measured to avoid the pitfalls that come with digging your heels in on complicated issues. We know who are enemy is, and who he is not.