https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/09/26/mark_penn_on_hasan_piker_anti-israel_protests_this_is_not_an_anti-israel_movement_it_is_an_anti-america_movement.html

Stagwell CEO and former Clinton pollster Mark Penn argues that the protests involving Hasan Piker and other anti-Israel activists reflect a broader anti-American movement,

GILLIAN TURNER: Far-left activist Hassan Piker, who once infamously said that America deserved 9-11, is now stirring up controversy on another college campus. Here he is joining a pro-Palestinian chant at Cornell.

This just a few hours after appearing with anti-Netanyahu protesters outside the UN. All right, let's bring in former Clinton advisor and Stagwell CEO Mark Penn now. You know, it had been my understanding, Mark, that calling for the eradication of the Jewish people in the state of Israel on college campuses was something that civilized people had agreed was inappropriate, but I was wrong.

A couple of other notable celebs to turn out at these protests at the UN targeting Netanyahu were Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder. Both of them very proudly got arrested, with dozens of others in the crowd there, some live pictures. Why do you think the desperate yearning to join anti-Israel movements is having such a moment still now?

MARK PENN, FORMER CLINTON ADVISOR, STAGWELL CEO: Yeah, look, I think that there's, you know, that something's happened here, you know, in our politics where people like Hasan Piker somehow by being anti-American and anti-Israel, and if you look at his 9-11 comments basically condemning America, you'll find that his attitudes are by no means confined to Israel, but are equally antagonistic and hateful towards America. So yeah, there's an entire strand of people who can make a living on social media by picking up a following on this, and they're driving that, you know, into our politics and into our campuses. But it's not the predominant view in the country by any stretch of the imagination, and frankly, Piker is so anti-American that I find it unbelievable that any political candidate would campaign within 100 feet of somebody like that.

TURNER: Oh, but yet they do. Here is Hasan Piker himself shouting out another DSA candidate who got arrested at these protests. He sounds mighty jealous of her.

HASAN PIKER: Darializa [Avila Chevalier], my girl, my queen, the legend, she was arrested, Hannah Einbinder. So I know, I know everyone that got arrested. I was supposed to be a part of this demonstration. Ironically enough, I was also supposed to be a part of the people that got arrested.

TURNER: I think he got frozen at the end there, but it's a very bizarre statement to be making for somebody whose party is facing an election in a couple of weeks.

PENN: Well, absolutely, and look, the truth of the matter is the voters are focused on the economy. You ask people what's the most important issue, two, three, four percent say that it's about the Mideast, and the truth of the matter is that in the Mideast and in the Mideast itself, the Board of Peace is working on a program to disarm Hamas. There is no active war, as you said.

What's so puzzling is they're treating it as though there is some kind of ongoing war, and the only things going on now, the Houthis are attacking the Saudis, America is trying to restrain Iran from these terrorist movements, and yet they're out there really actively not calling for peace, not calling for a two-state solution, but actively calling for the complete destruction of Israel and all of those people essentially who live there, and so, yes, and that has almost no support in the American public. Even many of the people who follow them don't actually agree with what is genuinely seems to be behind this movement, but again, this is not an anti-Israel movement, it is an anti-America movement. It's as though they have adopted the slogans of Iran, of little Satan, Satan, and big Satan.