Seattle students walk out for pro-Palestinian rally

SEATTLE — Students in the Seattle area walked out of schoolTuesday to protest the Israel-Hamas war.

Dozens of high school-aged students—carrying Palestinian flags and posters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza—gathered at Cal Anderson Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood around 12 p.m. as part of planned rallies by student groups across the country on the first full day of Passover.

This is not anti-Semitism, this is standing up for people who cannot and this protest only happens to fall on Passover, but we mean no harm,” said one student from Holy Names Academy. “We believe what’s going on in Gaza really isn’t right, even if our government doesn’t support the protests that we stand for."

"It’s still our right to protest and support them,” the student added.

Maysun Dawaharee, an Arab student who walked out of class at Garfield High School (GHS) said she's among the organizers who expected a larger turnout, as they saw at a similar student-planned rally in October. She said student support has dwindled over time.

"This proves that there needs to be a bigger conversation because the conversation is getting smaller as the months go by," said Maysun Dawaharee, a senior at GHS.

A University of Washington student started the speeches, though KOMO News crews did not see walkouts on the UW campus Tuesday morning. He criticized the university's ties to Boeing as other students yelled demands for the U.S. to halt military aid to Israel.

“I’m here in solidarity with you and your demands to end aid to Israel,” the UW student said through a loudspeaker.

Throughout the rally, students blocked multiple news crews’ cameras with flags and blankets, though it was unclear why. Overall, it was a peaceful rally and there were police officers nearby.

In response to the rally, President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Solly Kane expressed concern that rallies like this one can create a climate of fear for the students' Jewish classmates.

I am shocked that the organizers would choose to hold such an aggressive protest on a day marking when Jews had to flee Egypt," Kane wrote. "Our community needs to call out hate."

"Local leaders need to make clear, especially in our schools, that they will assertively address conditions where intimidation and intolerance can thrive," Kane added. "Parents need to speak with their children tonight about antisemitism, so that no child feels unwelcome, so that no group is allowed to try and shout down a vulnerable minority."

By Tuesday afternoon, Rabbi Daniel Weiner of Temple de Hirsch Sinai told KOMO News he's grateful for the district's response to the student-planned walkouts. That includes preserving free speech and making all students feel safe by noting before the rally that SPS does not condone anti-Semitic or Islamaphobic acts.