SEATTLE, WA – A group of radical activists illegally seized the University of Washington’s Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (IEB) on Monday night, issuing threats and demands in support of the Hamas-led October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. The group’s so-called “manifesto,” released during the takeover, praised the massacre as a “heroic victory” and demanded the university sever ties with defense contractor Boeing, whose products are used by Israel in its battle against the Islamic terrorist group Hamas.
“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 October 7th,” the group wrote, openly glorifying the Hamas-coordinated massacre of over 1,200 people in Israel, including women, children, and the elderly.
The occupation escalated into an unlawful encampment, with barricades constructed from bike racks and furniture, and trash fires ignited and left smouldering near the building. Authorities responded by deploying law enforcement in riot gear to clear the building.
About 30 individuals were arrested and face charges including trespassing, property destruction, disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit those offenses, according to law enforcement sources.
University officials condemned the occupation and the violent, antisemitic rhetoric of the group, which had previously been suspended.
“The UW is committed to maintaining a secure learning and research environment, and strongly condemns this illegal building occupation and the antisemitic statement that was issued by a suspended student group on Monday,” the university said in a statement.
The University of Washington’s partnership with Boeing, a long-established research and development collaboration, was a central target of the protesters’ demands. Boeing manufactures aircraft and weapons systems used by the U.S. and its allies, including Israel and many other democratic nations.
The Seattle incident follows a similar pro-Hamas encampment at Swarthmore College, where nine individuals were arrested after establishing a site dubbed the “Hossam Shabat Liberated Zone” – named after a terrorist of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ combatant wing. That encampment was also organized by Students for Justice in Palestine, a group with known links to Islamist extremist networks.
Both incidents are part of a broader surge in campus protests across the U.S. that have increasingly adopted the language and tactics of violent resistance, with growing calls to confront what some demonstrators call “Zionist institutions” through direct action. It should be noted that there are considerable indications that the “protesters” are entirely unfamiliar with the meaning of “Zionist,” instead using it as a euphemism to refer to Jewish people in general.
