Jewish students, faculty evacuated from University of Washington building after anti-Israel activists take over meeting

Police at the University of Washington evacuated the Board of Regents and Jewish students, faculty, and community members from a public meeting after the decision was made by the administration to cede a building to anti-Israel activists. On Thursday, the committee was considering employees who want to unionize as well as a proposal by the antisemitic activists to divest from companies that do business with Israel, including Microsoft and Boeing.

However, during the public comment period, the Hamas-supporting activists heckled Jewish speakers who spoke out against the antisemitism on campus during the previous school year and began chanting to glorify “martyrs,” meaning terrorists. Many of the activists were not students and were snuck into the building by students who had the proper credentials.

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.” 

One of the Jewish attendees, David Solovy, told Hoffman that the activists argued with the board president over disruptions, and they would "heckle whenever they didn’t like something a speaker said. They ‘booed’ between speakers.”

Solovy added, “Their shouts were especially loud when they falsely claimed Israel killed their own people on Oct 7, and the sexual assault of the victims was a lie.”

The heckling and intimidation got so bad that Zeeck warned the activists that if they did not stop, the room would be cleared. The radicals continued the behavior and the meeting was adjourned before finishing public comment.

One masked protestor stood up and proclaimed that there was a bail fund ready to go for the radicals and that they weren’t leaving the room.

As the activists began chanting louder, campus police said it was too dangerous to go out the main doors because of the radicals and escorted the university President Ana Marie Cauce, the board, and the Jewish attendees out of the room, ceding control of it to the radicals rather than clearing them from the room.

The meeting attendees were walked down an emergency stairwell on the roof and led to a small classroom where the Board of Regents and Cauce remained, along with the Jewish community members.

The remaining participants were told that an official meeting could not be conducted because it would violate public meeting rules, but the community continued to ask questions of the board and Cauce.

The meeting grew contentious when one of the Jewish community members asked Cauce if UW would tolerate this discrimination towards any other group. The university president responded by comparing the antisemitic terrorist supporters to PETA activists.

Another Jewish attendee said it was a false comparison because Judaism "is in our DNA" while a third slammed Cauce, saying comparing PETA activists to "the sh*t that just went down in that room is disrespectful."

The Board of Regents added in its statement, “Attempts to intimidate members of the UW community or members of the public will not influence the Board’s decision-making process. No further actions will be taken by the Board until its next regularly scheduled meeting.”

The leader of the pro-Hamas activists was later arrested for what police said was disorderly conduct but according to his radical “comrades,” was later bailed out by others in the group.

Solly Kane, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, who was in the room during public comment and then rushed out by police, said in a statement obtained by Hoffman, "Sadly, my experience today is reflective of the experience of many Jewish students on campus this past school year. We were there calling on the UW leadership to do better in the school year ahead, and yet they were not even able to ensure civility in a regularly scheduled board meeting."
 

He called on the university to "take immediate action to restore safety and dignity for Jewish students, faculty, and staff." Kane added, "We cannot accept vague promises any longer," and demanded that the Board of Regents "establish and enforce clear, unambiguous policies on antisemitism, protests, encampments and masked demonstrations." Additionally, he called on UW to "publicly release the findings from the Antisemitism and Islamophobia task forces, which were initiated last year but have yet to show any tangible results," and then "implement a clear plan for education on antisemitism for students, faculty, and staff—because awareness alone isn’t enough."

He also demanded that the university "ensure transparency and accountability by providing clear processes for reporting antisemitic incidents and outlining exactly how those reports will be addressed."
 

Kane added, "The safety of the Jewish community is non-negotiable. The University of Washington's inaction is setting a dangerous precedent, not only for us but for the broader community. What happens on this campus ripples into our schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods."