CAIR leader and House hopeful urges UW to restore cancelled Hasan Piker talk

In an August 13 letter obtained through a public-records request, Imraan Siddiqi, the Washington state executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and a Democratic candidate for the state House, urged University of Washington president Robert Jones to rescind the August 7 cancellation of Hasan Piker’s scheduled January 2027 lecture. Siddiqi condemned the university for yielding to “political pressure” and lauded Piker as an unapologetic voice condemning Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

He addressed the request to Jones and the board of regents, asking that the talk be reinstated in the 2026-27 speaker series. The university had faced objections from Hillel director Sigal Bujman Klein and faculty who warned the event could be seen as endorsing anti-Jewish sentiment, with some donors threatening to pull support. Siddiqi’s appeal arrives as his campaign, which has raised far less money than opponent Lauren Davis, grapples with criticism over CAIR’s past events praising the “al-Aqsa flood” and alleged terror ties. The controversy highlights the broader tension between free-speech debates on campuses and the Israel-Palestine conflict.