British authorities have blocked US political commentators Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur from entering the country over their views of the genocide in Gaza and Israel’s war crimes. “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,” Uygur wrote. “They say that my charge that Israel controls the American government through donations to 94% of Congress, while factual, is antisemitic nonetheless.”
“The West is betraying ‘liberal values’ for a genocidal fascist foreign government,” Piker added. “Soon we will all become Israel.”
The two were supposed to attend the culture and technology festival SXSW London and take part in a debate at the Oxford Union. However, following interventions by some Labour MPs and Zionist groups, their travel authorizations were revoked. “Banning Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker from entering the UK is an absurd and cowardly decision from an increasingly authoritarian government,” Your Party MP Jeremy Corbyn wrote on social media. “Let us call this what it is: an attack on the freedom to criticize Israel, as well as the UK government’s own complicity in genocide.”
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The ban was also criticized by Palestine solidarity activists and media workers, who warned against increased curtailing of free speech and protest rights in Britain. “It’s abundantly clear that the UK government has put Israel at the heart of its policymaking around free expression,” said Ash Sarkar from Novara Media. “Whether it’s proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist group, arresting hundreds of people for holding signs supporting it or banning Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker from the UK for speech acts which would not be unlawful in this country, what we’re witnessing is an authoritarian turn motivated by Labour’s fear of being called antisemitic, and fear of being called out for their position on the genocidal war in Gaza.”
Sarkar and others pointed out that while speaking out against genocide is being punished, those with more or less direct links to the Israeli occupation – including people who served in Israeli armed forces and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans – were regularly welcomed by authorities. This is also true for Israeli officials like president Isaac Herzog, who was welcomed by the Starmer government in 2025 despite accusations of incitement of genocide.
In contrast to the path currently pursued by the government, activists are calling for the upholding of public space to debate and advocate against genocide and occupation. “You don’t foster community cohesion by having the government ban people from speaking,” Sarkar wrote. “The role for the state is to set a reasonable bar – no incitement, no libel/slander – and let the people contest ideas between themselves.”
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