Rantz: Antisemites held UW building hostage, but will officials finally call this domestic terrorism?
May 6, 2025, 8:56 AM

People block the entrance to a UW building. (Photo courtesy of @UW_JewishAlumni via X))
(Photo courtesy of @UW_JewishAlumni via X)
The University of Washington (UW) became the latest stage for an ongoing national disgrace Monday night: A mob of antisemitic, pro-Hamas extremists took over a building and held it hostage in the name of 鈥渞esistance.鈥 But let鈥檚 drop the euphemisms the media loves so much. These weren鈥檛 鈥減ro-Palestinian protesters.鈥 This was a fueled by Jew-hate鈥攁nd UW and Seattle officials are too spineless to say it out loud, let alone really do anything about it.
The Antifa mob, most wearing masks so they’re not fired from their barista jobs for being antisemites, forcibly entered the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building around 4:30 p.m. They barricaded doors, unfurled banners praising Shaban al-Dalou鈥攁 Palestinian student who died after an Israeli airstrike against a Hamas command center that terrorists intentionally staged next to a hospital, though Seattle activists don’t seem to mind the Hamas strategy鈥攁nd locked the university out of its own property. They lit fires, damaged property, and hurled anti-Israel and anti-police invective.
“We are taking this building amidst the current and renewed wave of the student Intifada, following the uprising of student action for Palestine after the heroic victory of Al-Aqsa Flood on Oct. 7, which shattered the illusion of zionist-imperialist domination and brought Palestine to the forefront for all justice-loving people of the world,” the extremists’ claimed.
This wasn鈥檛 a sit-in. This was an insurrection. But in Seattle, if you hide behind the right political slogans, you almost always get a free pass.
SUPER UW extremists celebrate Oct. 7
The club involved in this illegal act? SUPER UW, or Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return. Its members aren’t merely imbeciles with no historical understanding that extends beyond their hatred of Jews. They’re pro-Hamas thugs who have celebrated the Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel as justified.
Despite supposedly being suspended by the UW, the group has continued to organize and operate on campus. Would the UW turn the other way if a local KKK group used its campus to promote hate? Of course not. But, hey, the victims here are Jews, and we don’t count as part of the progressive activist class. We’re merely privileged white colonialists. Or something.
The UW knew this illegal occupation was going to happen. SUPER UW and other antisemitic activists didn’t hide their plans or intent. It’s how “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH heard about this inevitability early Monday morning. Rather than stop the hate and destruction, UW leadership let it happen and waited five hours before truly intervening.
Seattle Police could have been asked to intervene immediately. Instead, they tried to “negotiate” with the antisemites. Apparently, we’re still under the illusion that you can negotiate with terrorists. UW is all about de-escalation鈥攅ven for the modern day manifestation of the new Nazis. I rarely invoke that language, but I struggle to come up with a better name for a group of antisemites who don’t believe in Israel’s right to exist, while rooting for the side that’s mere existence is to slaughter Jews.
Media coverage
And let鈥檚 talk about the media.
KOMO, KING 5, and others parroted the same tired narrative, referring to the extremists as 鈥減ro-Palestinian protesters.鈥 It鈥檚 lazy, dishonest, and dangerous.聽The Seattle Times calls the extremists “protesters.” If these were white kids in MAGA hats, they’d be immediately labeled white supremacists.
These people weren鈥檛 protesting Israeli or U.S. policy鈥攖hey were glorifying Hamas and trying to force the university to divest from Boeing because the company works with the Israeli government.
They鈥檙e not protesting war; they鈥檙e demanding Jews have no right to self-defense. Call it what it is: antisemitism wrapped in academic buzzwords.
UW must suspend every student involved
This illegal occupation wasn鈥檛 about peace. It wasn鈥檛 about Gaza. This was about intimidation, occupation, and pushing an extremist ideology that treats Jews as villains and terrorists as freedom fighters.
Let鈥檚 be clear: if UW doesn鈥檛 immediately suspend every student involved, if charges aren鈥檛 filed for trespassing and property damage, and if a judge doesn’t actually his or her job, then the university, the city, and the criminal justice system is yet again cowering to the New Nazis. Yes, Nazis. When you use violence and threats to push an ideology that demonizes Jews, glorifies terrorism, and silences dissent, you鈥檝e joined that legacy.
A rise in antisemitism in Seattle
Seattle has a choice: Confront the rising tide of antisemitism or surrender to it. For the last two years, the choice has been to surrender or embolden. It’s precisely why Monday night’s occupation happened: They believe they can get away with it.
UW is choosing to surrender until they prove otherwise. And the media? They鈥檙e busy making excuses for the extremists, pretending this was some sort of misunderstood act of youthful rebellion by “pro-Palestinian protesters.”
This was an act of hate and lawlessness, plain and simple. And if the UW and the city don鈥檛 treat it that way, they’re not just complicit鈥攖hey鈥檙e ensuring that it happens again.
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