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Public school students in Washington State are planning a school walk-out on the first day of Passover this week. The walk-outs have been promoted and sponsored by the Seattle chapter of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a group that has been banned in Germany for its support of terrorist organizations, including Hamas.
The group advocates for the release of convicted terrorists from prison and has a direct affiliation and ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization.
A flyer posted by the King County Revolutionary Students Union called for a “state wide student walkout” on Tuesday, April 23, the first day of the Jewish festival of Passover.
The group is calling for the “End of US aid to Israel,” to “End Israeli Occupation,” which means the end of the nation of Israel, to “Release Palestinian Prisoners,” meaning all Palestinians convicted and held in Israeli prisons, and for “On State of Palestine.”
The event featured the call “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," calling for an end to the nation of Israel.
Hamas-supporting students in schools across the state posted their own version of the flyer.
Seattle Public School students are being encouraged to walk out to Cal Anderson Park, the site of the deadly 2020 Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.
The sponsors of the event include local anti-Israel and pro-Hamas groups, as well as communist and Marxist groups.
Samidoun Seattle helped organize the first rally for Hamas at the University of Washington, days after the Oct 7 attacks. The group was also involved in blockading the I-5 freeway in downtown Seattle on Jan 6 and interrupted a Democratic fundraising event in Seattle featuring former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Bissan Barghouti, the leader of the local chapter who was an employee of the ACLU, has led calls for genocide during rallies and praised the Oct 7 atrocities.
Since the Oct 7 massacre of over 1,200 Israelis by Hamas and the kidnapping of over 250 on the Jewish holiday of Simchas Torah, activists have targeted Jewish holidays.
Katy Payne, a spokesperson for Washington’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, “We are aware of this student-led effort, and we have communicated with school districts to remind them of their obligations to maintain all students’ safety at school, including during student-led protests and activism,” and sent a message in March reminding “school district civil rights coordinators; harassment, intimidation, and bullying coordinators; and other school/district leaders” about policies on discrimination and harassment.
Despite anxiety from Jewish parents and students, dozens of schools signing on to the action, OSPI’s statement, and Smidoun claiming responsibility for shutting down the biggest freeway in the state's largest city, Mike Faulk, spokesman for Democratic Governor Jay Inslee dismissed the concerns telling Hoffman, "I’ve never heard of this group or any mention anywhere else of this event being organized, so it’s hard to gauge how 'massive' it would be," he said. "The screenshots provide very few details and they don’t portend the event would be antisemitic. In the unlikely event we did ever see a ‘mass antisemitic walkout’ statewide, that would merit a strong rebuke from the governor.”
Inslee was present at the Democratic fundraiser Samidoun interrupted and has yet to comment on the Jan. 6 freeway blockade and the Hamas rallies at UW, his alma mater.
On Friday, in response to the announcements, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and the #CallItAntisemitism coalition issued an urgent call to school leadership to address “rising levels of antisemitism in our community,” and “how students’ actions could be used to spread hate and cause harm to fellow classmates.”
"While we support the right to peaceful protest and free expression, we strongly condemn when such expression crosses the line into any form of antisemitism or intimidation," said Solly Kane, President & CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and a member of the #CallItAntisemitism coalition, in a statement to Hoffman.
Kane added, “As reported by the Anti-Defamation League earlier this week, 2023 marked a nearly 200 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in Washington state (65 incidents in 2022 up to 190 incidents in 2023), adding to an already 40-year high in incidents of anti-Jewish harm. We implore school leadership to take this epidemic of bias and hate seriously, and own their responsibility to ensure school communities remain safe, welcoming, and inclusive for all students and faculty, including Jewish and Israeli students.”
"Attacking Israel or Zionists must not be used as a thinly veiled cover for anti-Jewish hate. Language matters; dehumanizing words can lead to real-world harm,” Kane continued. “As the planned student walkout approaches, we urge all participants to air their concerns without creating conducive conditions for antisemitism or any form of bigotry to thrive. Those who say they are working in service of social and political progress must act responsibly to avoid creating additional harm in the process. We call on leaders in our community, and all people of good conscience, to precisely and consistently call out antisemitism whenever it occurs and educate others about the threat."
The group advocates for the release of convicted terrorists from prison and has a direct affiliation and ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization.
A flyer posted by the King County Revolutionary Students Union called for a “state wide student walkout” on Tuesday, April 23, the first day of the Jewish festival of Passover.
The group is calling for the “End of US aid to Israel,” to “End Israeli Occupation,” which means the end of the nation of Israel, to “Release Palestinian Prisoners,” meaning all Palestinians convicted and held in Israeli prisons, and for “On State of Palestine.”
The event featured the call “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," calling for an end to the nation of Israel.
Hamas-supporting students in schools across the state posted their own version of the flyer.
Seattle Public School students are being encouraged to walk out to Cal Anderson Park, the site of the deadly 2020 Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.
The sponsors of the event include local anti-Israel and pro-Hamas groups, as well as communist and Marxist groups.
Samidoun Seattle helped organize the first rally for Hamas at the University of Washington, days after the Oct 7 attacks. The group was also involved in blockading the I-5 freeway in downtown Seattle on Jan 6 and interrupted a Democratic fundraising event in Seattle featuring former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Bissan Barghouti, the leader of the local chapter who was an employee of the ACLU, has led calls for genocide during rallies and praised the Oct 7 atrocities.
Since the Oct 7 massacre of over 1,200 Israelis by Hamas and the kidnapping of over 250 on the Jewish holiday of Simchas Torah, activists have targeted Jewish holidays.
Katy Payne, a spokesperson for Washington’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, “We are aware of this student-led effort, and we have communicated with school districts to remind them of their obligations to maintain all students’ safety at school, including during student-led protests and activism,” and sent a message in March reminding “school district civil rights coordinators; harassment, intimidation, and bullying coordinators; and other school/district leaders” about policies on discrimination and harassment.
Despite anxiety from Jewish parents and students, dozens of schools signing on to the action, OSPI’s statement, and Smidoun claiming responsibility for shutting down the biggest freeway in the state's largest city, Mike Faulk, spokesman for Democratic Governor Jay Inslee dismissed the concerns telling Hoffman, "I’ve never heard of this group or any mention anywhere else of this event being organized, so it’s hard to gauge how 'massive' it would be," he said. "The screenshots provide very few details and they don’t portend the event would be antisemitic. In the unlikely event we did ever see a ‘mass antisemitic walkout’ statewide, that would merit a strong rebuke from the governor.”
Inslee was present at the Democratic fundraiser Samidoun interrupted and has yet to comment on the Jan. 6 freeway blockade and the Hamas rallies at UW, his alma mater.
On Friday, in response to the announcements, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and the #CallItAntisemitism coalition issued an urgent call to school leadership to address “rising levels of antisemitism in our community,” and “how students’ actions could be used to spread hate and cause harm to fellow classmates.”
"While we support the right to peaceful protest and free expression, we strongly condemn when such expression crosses the line into any form of antisemitism or intimidation," said Solly Kane, President & CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and a member of the #CallItAntisemitism coalition, in a statement to Hoffman.
Kane added, “As reported by the Anti-Defamation League earlier this week, 2023 marked a nearly 200 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in Washington state (65 incidents in 2022 up to 190 incidents in 2023), adding to an already 40-year high in incidents of anti-Jewish harm. We implore school leadership to take this epidemic of bias and hate seriously, and own their responsibility to ensure school communities remain safe, welcoming, and inclusive for all students and faculty, including Jewish and Israeli students.”
"Attacking Israel or Zionists must not be used as a thinly veiled cover for anti-Jewish hate. Language matters; dehumanizing words can lead to real-world harm,” Kane continued. “As the planned student walkout approaches, we urge all participants to air their concerns without creating conducive conditions for antisemitism or any form of bigotry to thrive. Those who say they are working in service of social and political progress must act responsibly to avoid creating additional harm in the process. We call on leaders in our community, and all people of good conscience, to precisely and consistently call out antisemitism whenever it occurs and educate others about the threat."
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