Seattle activists marked the third anniversary of the October 7 massacre by marching for the terrorists who committed it, and the Seattle media decided it wasn’t worth covering. It was an anti-Semitic hate march, but local media simply treated it as a traffic advisory.
JNS reporter Jessica Russak-Hoffman was one of the few journalists who bothered to cover the story for a news organization. Jonathan Choe was also present for Frontlines, a project of Turning Point USA. Protesters converged on Cal Anderson Park on Wednesday and radicals marched through Seattle Central College, a public school, waving Palestinian flags, one of which featured the face of a Hamas terrorist. “Bring out another soldier,” they chanted, according to JNS. Another song celebrated the massacre itself.
“Long live October 7,” shouted the crowd.
At the University of Washington, Jewish UW alumni told JNS that protesters carried posters honoring Hamas members and suicide bombers. An image from Frontlines shows a flag bearing a masked Hamas fighter in a green headband over Palestinian colors. The front lines numbered hundreds of demonstrators and said they were honoring the Hamas dead as “martyrs.”
So why have local media once again ignored anti-Semitism?
They told you who they were
Spare me the “pro-Palestinian” label. No one who cares about Palestinian civilians welcomes the massacre of 1,200 people or salutes a masked terrorist on a flag. These demonstrators chose Hamas.
Bennett Haselton tested them. He brought a sign that read: “Please stop cheering on October 7. Many innocent people were murdered that day. Rally for Palestine, not October 7. With love, be better.” According to Frontlines, the crowd took the sign and destroyed it. Haselton told the outlet he was tackled but was OK.
Seattle police reported markings and other property damage along the route, and Jewish businesses were also affected. The SPD has promised to act. “Officers have identified the suspects and will make arrests when it is safe to do so,” the department said. On Thursday, the SPD confirmed that it had made only one arrest. The city often lets criminal left-wing behavior slide, as long as it’s an issue the city’s far-left leaders agree with.
Forgive the Jews of Seattle for not holding their breath thinking there will be real consequences for their criminal behavior. Last month, vandals scribbled pro-October 7 graffiti in Be’er Sheva Park. In 2024, the SPD decided that vandalism targeting the Holocaust Center for Humanity was not a hate crime because a far-left activist and now former police officer said it was not. And in April, a protest outside the StandWithUs Northwest event at City Hall ended in a fight and three arrests.
The Seattle media looked the other way
I was unable to find substantial coverage from KING 5, KOMO, the Seattle Times or KUOW. I reviewed the tapes of the coverage of the KING 5 party after the hate rally, but they were not interested in that March. The only significant local story I found was about traffic. Hundreds of terrorist sympathizers celebrated Jewish deaths on the anniversary of the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, and the news value was deemed insufficient.
KING 5 actually found a team for an anti-ICE march of about 10 people, then let the story compare ICE detention to World War II internment camps before activist reporter Sharon Yoo suggested ways for people to show support for the protesters. Ten activists won an information file. A pro-Hamas crowd gained nothing.
Imagine a Nazi rally at Cal Anderson Park on MLK Day. Each station would go online. The Seattle Times would publish three editorials before lunch. Mayor Katie Wilson would hold a press conference before dinner and her office wouldn’t mess up that messaging. They would be right.
So why the silence as a new generation of Nazis take to the streets to celebrate a terrorist attack against Jews? Local newsrooms are terrified of antagonizing the activists who fill their source lists and inboxes. Worse yet, too many journalists and editors fail to recognize this as hate at all. For them, a Hamas flag above the Capitol is a point of view. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of The Stranger’s small staff or the young editors of KING 5 marched alongside the anti-Semites.
If the Seattle media can’t call an October 7th anti-Semitic hate march that way, they’ve told you exactly whose feelings they’re protecting. It’s a total shame.
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