EXCLUSIVE: Jewish group demands Gov Jay Inslee take 'immediate action' after Jewish students, faculty evacuated from UW building due to anti-Israel protest

A major Jewish advocacy group is calling on Washington’s Democratic Governor Jay Inslee to take immediate action after Jewish students, faculty, and community members were escorted out of a public meeting at the University of Washington after the decision was made by the administration to cede the building to anti-Israel activists.

At a meeting of the university’s board of regents last week, anti-Israel activists shouted down speakers who had come to testify about the antisemitism Jewish students face on campus.

In a statement to the Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, outgoing UW Board of Regents Chair David Zeeck and Incoming Board of Regents Chair Blaine Tamaki said, “Speakers addressing labor issues and those calling for divestment from Israel had spoken without interruption, but when Jewish speakers opposed to divestment and concerned about antisemitism on campus began their comments, protestors repeatedly interrupted and shouted them down. Despite repeated warnings to stop and clear the room, protestors continued their chants to shut down the meeting.”

Activists picked up where they left off last school year when Jewish students and faculty were harassed and blocked from walking on campus, Israeli and American flags were stolen and destroyed, antisemitic slurs were used against Jewish students, buildings were vandalized with antisemitic and anti-cop graffiti, and vigils and rallies were held for terrorists.

UW previously chose not to discipline students involved in the antisemitic attacks nor those who caused over $50,000 in damage to the Husky Union Building, including tagging, ripping fixtures out of walls, vandalizing furniture, tampering with security cameras, and destroying students’ artwork.

In a letter obtained by Hoffman on Tuesday, the Jewish Federations of North America are calling on Inslee to take immediate action. One of the speakers was Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle CEO Solomon Kane whose “remarks were met with one of the most vile, outrageous displays of antisemitism to be witnessed at a public meeting in the United States of America in recent memory," said Jewish Federations of North America Chair Julie Platt and President and CEO Eric D. Fingerhut in the letter to Inslee.

They added, "To make matters worse, the board, a public body duly chartered by the State of Washington, did nothing to remove the disrupters, but instead chose to adjourn the meeting rather than to ensure the right of this speaker and the others who had planned to speak to proceed. The board has so far taken no legal or disciplinary action against the disrupters,” and noted that Kane had to be escorted by police from the premises for his physical safety.

Platt and Fingerhut called the incident a "stain" on the reputations of both the State of Washington and the University of Washington. The pair called for the Jewish community of Seattle to receive an appropriate apology, for the perpetrators to be punished, and for the Jewish community's concerns about antisemitism to be heard and considered by the state and university.

The letter concluded, "These are all basic expectations that shouldn’t need to be requested. Nothing short of these steps can hope to restore confidence in the integrity of the university or its intention to uphold the values of free speech, mutual respect, and opposition to antisemitism that are cornerstones of American civil society.”

Inslee and Washington’s Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson, both UW alumni, have been slammed for their inaction and silence as antisemitism has spread not only on the campus but across the state.

Last month, the city of Sea-Tac, dismissed charges against 46 anti-Israel activists who blocked a freeway leading to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for three hours and delayed flights in April.

Ferguson even told students who were being harassed while a violent Gaza camp occupied the campus to call a nonexistent hate crimes hotline. Ferguson, who is running for governor, has failed to publicly address the dozens of antisemitic incidents that have plagued the Evergreen State's Jewish community since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.

Ferguson also has yet to act on a letter sent by Israel’s consul general asking for an investigation into a Washington non-profit media company after it was revealed that one of the outlet’s “journalists” was holding Israeli hostages in his home in Gaza.

As part of the party platform this year, Washington Democrats overwhelmingly passed three resolutions during their state convention which included a call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, restoring funding to The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which helped Hamas in the Oct. 7 attacks, and a halt to US military aid to Israel.