UK bars US commentators Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker over Israel criticism

US political commentators Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker say they had been barred from entering the United Kingdom and British authorities cited their public comments about Israel as the reason for the decision.

Uygur, cofounder of The Young Turks, a United States-based online political news and commentary network, said he learned of the restriction while trying to board a flight to London, where he was scheduled to attend the SXSW London festival and deliver a speech at Oxford University.

As part of a series of posts on the US social media platform X, Uygur said British authorities told him he is considered “a serious risk”.

“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,” he wrote.

“They say that my charge that Israel controls the American government through donations to 94% of Congress, while factual, is antisemitic nonetheless,” he said.

“I didn’t get banned for criticising the UK, but for criticising Israel. They broke the irony record by saying it was because I said Israel might control other governments. I wonder if they’re going to ban themselves,” he said.

“This is absolutely Kafkaesque,” he wrote, criticising what he described as a contradiction in the government’s reasoning.

Cenk’s nephew Piker, one of the internet’s biggest political streamers and a staunch supporter of Palestine, later said in a post on X that his UK visa had also been revoked as he prepared to travel to the same event.

Piker wrote that the decision was linked to his criticism of Israel.

“It’s a sad state of affairs where obviously the interests of Israel take highest priority,” he said on a livestream on Sunday.

“Israel advocacy organisations have unbelievable amounts of power over what even the United Kingdom has to say and do; if you are an avowed anti-Zionist, your travel will be restricted,” he said.

The Times newspaper reported that UK officials said Uygur’s presence was not “conducive to the public good”, terminology Piker also stated the UK had used when denying him entry.

The reported restrictions come weeks after British authorities barred the US rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, from entering the country, citing his history of anti-Semitic remarks.

British officials defended that decision despite appeals from event organisers and public statements by the artist seeking reconsideration.