Cenk Uygur, Hasan Piker Banned From UK After Israel Criticisms: ‘This Is Absolutely Kafkaesque’

Cenk Uygur, co-founder of the Young Turks and a resolute critic of Israel, and his nephew Hasan Piker, the left-wing political commentator and influencer, both said Sunday that they had been banned from traveling to the U.K., stating that British authorities cited their public criticisms of Israel.

Uygur posted on X on Sunday in the moments after after he learned of the travel ban at the airport.

“I’ve been banned from the UK,” he wrote. “I tried to get on a flight to London to attend SXSW London and give a speech at Oxford. I’ve been banned for criticizing Israel. Are we free anymore? This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!”

Uygur posted again after finding out more about why he would not be allowed to make the trip. It could not be independently confirmed that British government officials gave a stated reason for blocking his entry.

“The British government is saying they’re banning me because I am ‘a serious risk to the public order’ due to my criticism of Israel. They say that my charge that Israel controls the American government through donations to 94% of Congress, while factual, is antisemitic nonetheless. Don’t know if facts will soon be banned in Britain.”

He also emphasized that he wasn’t being banned from the U.K. for criticizing the U.K. – but for his comments made in the U.S. about a third-party country.

“They broke the irony record by saying it was because I said Israel might control other governments,” he continued. “I wonder if they’re going to ban themselves. Think about it – if I had said that the Israeli government controls the British government so thoroughly that they’ll ban someone from coming to the UK just for criticizing Israel, they would have said that was an antisemitic statement. This is absolutely Kafkaesque.”

Later Sunday, Piker, Uygur’s nephew and a popular Twitch streamer and left-wing firebrand, quoted Uygur’s tweets and said the same thing was happening to him – as he was trying to travel to the same conference.

“The UK has revoked my visa as well,” he wrote. “All at the behest of Israel. The West is betraying “liberal values” for a genocidal fascist foreign government. Soon we will all become Israel.”

Last month, the British government banned Kanye West from traveling to the country for Wireless Festival, which was ultimately canceled. West’s well documented and pointedly antisemitic comments were the given reason, and British officials stood by their decision despite his recanting and pleas from festival organizers.

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