[News] Trump Administration to Probe UW Protests for ‘Antisemitic Violence’ – Students Arrested

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestinechronicle.com
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/trump-administration-to-probe-uw-protests-for-anti-semitic-violence-students-detained/>
Trump Administration to Probe UW Protests for ‘Antisemitic Violence’ –
Students DetainedMay 7, 2025
------------------------------
US President Donald Trump. (Design: Palestine Chronicle)

*By Palestine Chronicle Staff
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-staff>*

Some 33 protesters who occupied a UW engineering building demanding that
the university cut ties with Boeing were arrested on Monday. They were
subsequently released on bail.

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday an investigation into “recent
incidents of anti-Semitic violence” at the University of Washington (UW)
and its affiliates.

The announcement by the Departments of Education (ED), Health and Human
Services (HHS), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) follows
the arrest of 33 pro-Palestine protesters who occupied a UW engineering
building on Monday. Protesters demanded that UW cut ties with Boeing, “one
of the top suppliers of weapons to Israel,” a statement from a student
group said.

Condemning the protest, the government’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism
said
<https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/anti-semitism-task-force-statement-on-university-of-washington.html>
in a statement that its probe was “in response to the eruption of
anti-Semitic harassment and violence” that occurred at UW’s campus in
Seattle on Monday.

It said, “Pro-terror protestors demanded that the university divest from
Boeing due to the company’s military contracts linked
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/largest-european-companies-arming-israel-and-their-financiers-report/>
to the Gaza conflict.”

“The ‘protestors’ actions included barricading and occupying an engineering
building on campus for hours, setting property on fire, and shouting death
threats to law enforcement,” the statement added.
‘Policy Changes’ Expected

The Task Force said it “appreciates the university’s strong statement
condemning last night’s violence” and “applauds the quick action” by law
enforcement officers to remove what it called “violent criminals” from the
university campus.

“While these are good first steps, the university must do more to deter
future violence and guarantee that Jewish students have a safe and
productive learning environment,” the statement added.

The Task Force said it “expects” the institution to follow up with
enforcement actions and policy changes “that are clearly necessary to
prevent these uprisings moving forward.”
Building Renamed to ‘Sha’ban Al-Dalou’

The group Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return (SUPER) said
in a statement that the 33 UW students and community members occupied “the
Boeing-funded Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (EB) on UW campus for
nearly 10 hours, before being violently arrested by UWPD, SPD and
Washington State Troopers.”

It noted that students, faculty and community members “rallied at the
building and in the street, building barricades and facing threats and
violence from police in riot gear in order to support and defend those
inside.”

“We renamed the building in honor of Palestinian engineering student
Sha’ban Al-Dalou,” the statement said, adding that Sha’ban “was martyred in
an ‘israeli’ bombing of a refugee camp at a hospital, where he was burned
<https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.palestinechronicle.com/let-him-never-be-forgotten-shaban-al-dalou-burned-alive-in-israeli-airstrike-on-gaza-hospital-camp/&ved=2ahUKEwiux5_O35GNAxWBW0EAHc4tDD8QFnoECBUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0ONhtuQSDcSW-DPopbPiUb>
alive.”

The group said protesters were “dragged” and thrown down flights of stairs,
by “cops” who “threw furniture over people’s heads, and slammed people’s
bodies to the ground.”

The action by the security forces “caused multiple concussions, nerve
damage, and other injuries.”

Two arrestees were taken to the hospital on Tuesday “after they were denied
medical care in jail, and one person in the outside rally was assaulted by
an officer and transported to the hospital via ambulance last night.”
$10m Investment from Boeing

SUPER said the protest action was taken to demand that UW cut ties with
Boeing, repurpose the occupied building in a community controlled space,
and “to end the repression of pro-Palestinian students, faculty, and staff.”

“The IEB was funded through a $10 million investment from Boeing, and in
return, UW has granted them control of engineering curriculum, access to
research facilities, and promise to establish a ‘pipeline’ of students into
the Boeing workforce,” the statement stressed.

Boeing, it said, is one of the top supplies of weapons to Israel and “plans
to use this building in order to expand their ability to develop and
research the weapons that are used to massacre Palestinians.”
UW President’s Statement

UW President Ana Mari Cauce said in a statement that “This was no peaceful
protest” and condemned “this dangerous, violent and illegal building
occupation and related vandalism.”

Cauce said the university will continue “our actions to oppose
antisemitism, racism and all forms of biases so that ALL our students,
faculty, staff and visitors can feel safe and welcome on campuses.”

The student group said Cauce’s condemnation of the protest as “violent”
implies that the “only protests that are justified are the ‘peaceful’ ones.”

“We believe an escalation in genocide requires an escalation in our tactics
and commitment. The Palestinian people and their resistance have been
calling on the international community to escalate, and we are answering
those calls,” SUPER said.

It stated that Palestinians have engaged in “peaceful protests” and “peace”
deals, but Israel “continues to bomb them, because their goals are to
displace Palestinians in order to occupy all of their land.”

The statement added that Cauce should be condemning “the violence from the
cops that UW sent in to brutalize students and community members.”

*(The Palestine Chronicle)*
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