Agitators attack journalist, shut down Seattle roads to protest Google, Amazon contracts with Israel

Hundreds of agitators who oppose the Israel-Hamas war were permitted by officials to illegally block streets in downtown Seattle and no arrests were made. 

On Saturday afternoon, the agitators blocked all lanes of 1st Avenue and various other intersections as they marched from Westlake Center passing the iconic Pike Place Market on their way to the Amazon Spheres.

Radicals claimed they were marching against Google and Amazon’s contract with the Israeli Government. Protesters distributed fliers complaining that Google and Amazon are involved in a $1.2 billion contract with both the Israeli government and the IDF. Others at the march said that part of their cause was to protest the big tech giants.

A masked, keffiyah-wearing agitator attacked journalist Jonathan Choe, senior Fellow for Discovery Institute.

The Seattle Department of Transportation told residents to use caution and find alternative routes.

The protest was the latest in a never-ending series of illegal actions that Seattle, King County, and Washington State officials have refused to deal with since Hamas massacred over 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7 and kidnapped more than 250 others.

Last Saturday, the agency that operates Seattle’s light rail shut down a station in fear of these activists. The previous month, the agency closed a different station in advance of an anti-Israel protest.

In January, activists blockaded a stretch of Interstate 5 that runs through downtown Seattle for over 6 hours trapping hundreds of motorists and at least 2 ambulances.

Some of the activists from the I-5 blockade were seen at Saturday's protest.

Following massive backlash for failure to act, the Washington State Patrol finally referred criminal charges on suspects they alleged were part of the action. The King County prosecutor has not yet announced if they are moving ahead with prosecution.

On Friday WSP announced that the number of activists they have referred charges on has increased to 12. Charges include second-degree criminal trespass, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct, and obstruction.

Hossam Nasr, one of the ones leading the chants calling for genocide of Jews on Saturday told KOMO News that these actions will likely continue. “We will never stop showing up for Palestine. We will never stop making clear that there can never be ‘business as usual’ under genocide.”