UK Bars Pro-Palestinian Streamer Hasan Piker and Uncle Cenk Uygur From Entering Country
Britain’s government has blocked pro-Palestinian American streamer Hasan Piker and his uncle, Turkish-American broadcaster Cenk Uygur, from entering the country—a decision that free speech advocates are calling an escalating clampdown on voices critical of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
The Home Office confirmed it cancelled the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for both men, a permit that normally allows non-UK citizens to visit without a visa for up to six months. In a statement to CNN, a Home Office spokesperson said the revocations were made “on the grounds that their presence in the UK may not be conducive to the public good,” adding that such determinations “are based solely on an assessment of potential risk an individual may pose to UK society.”
Piker, 34, and Uygur had been scheduled to appear this week at the South by Southwest technology and business festival (SXSW) in London and to address the Oxford Union, the prestigious debating society. Piker posted on X Sunday that his “visa” had been revoked; Uygur said he only learned he was barred when he tried to board a flight to London.
“I’ve been banned for criticizing Israel. Are we free anymore?” Uygur wrote on X. “This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!” Piker, in a text message to CNN, accused Britain of letting “free expression and due process fall by the wayside at the behest of a foreign apartheid state and its expansionist interests in the Middle East,” calling it “a real crisis of democracy.”
The pair are high-profile figures in progressive online media. Piker’s daily livestreams, where he dissects breaking news and policy, reach more than 30,000 viewers and have earned him 6.4 million followers across X, Instagram and Twitch. Uygur founded The Young Turks, an independent online talk show that bills itself as a progressive news and commentary program with a strong youth following; he also ran for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination.
British media reported that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ordered the ETA cancellations early Monday. London’s The Times said the decision to bar Uygur was “understood to have been based on several grounds,” including that his presence would “risk exacerbating antisemitism.” That rationale has drawn sharp pushback.
“The UK government appears to be banning individuals from entering the UK because of their criticism of Israeli state policies,” said Lewis Turner, co-vice president of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, warning of a “dangerous precedent” for free expression. “This comes in the context of a much wider crackdown on freedom of expression relating to Palestine, especially since October 2023.”
The timing is notable. In April, Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that a surge in antisemitic attacks had left Jewish people “scared to show who they are.” Some Jewish groups argue that criticism of Israel has fueled intimidation and antisemitism. But others counter that accusations of antisemitism have been weaponized to suppress legitimate criticism of Israel’s government.
Piker has repeatedly insisted he is anti-Zionist, not antisemitic, and has called for accountability over Israeli actions in Gaza—which both he and Uygur have described as genocide. In September, an independent UN inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a finding rejected by the Israeli government.
Still, Piker has made controversial remarks. During an April episode of the podcast Pod Save America, he said, “I’m a lesser-evil voter, and therefore I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.” (Hamas is designated a terror group by the U.S., UK and EU.) Years earlier, he apologized for saying “America deserved 9/11” in a 2019 appearance on The Young Turks, calling his language imprecise. Speaking at Oxford Union last May, he condemned antisemitism as “one of the oldest bigotries” and denounced the “conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism” as a “cynical ploy to stop conversation.”
Both men are now effectively barred from the UK unless they apply for a standard visa—a process the Home Office says remains open. But the controversy is already reverberating across political and media circles, amplifying debates about the limits of free speech when it intersects with foreign policy and national security claims.
Donie O’Sullivan contributed to this report.