Downtown Seattle rally draws large crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters

SEATTLE – Anguish and tension from the Israel-Hamas war took center stage Saturday afternoon in downtown Seattle, as several activist groups led an All Out for Palestine rally in Westlake Park and a march through the streets that at times filled up two or three city blocks.

The event, advertised on social media with the taglines “Free Palestine, Stand with Gaza, Resist until Return,” was organized by groups that included Falastiniyat, Samidoun Seattle and the University of Washington chapter of Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return.

The rally was held as the war in the Holy Land saw its eighth day, with Israel’s military bombarding the territory of Gaza in retaliation for deadly attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7 and ordering huge numbers of civilians to evacuate parts of Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive. The war has already claimed at least 3,500 lives, including many civilians.

Hundreds of Americans remain trapped in Gaza, including Seattle resident Ramona Okumura, a retired UW instructor who was visiting Gaza as a consulting prosthetist for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund. She and colleagues reached the Rafah crossing at Egypt’s border but were uncertain about their next steps, family members said Saturday.

As the Westlake Park rally started, people held Palestinian flags and signs with messages like “Resistance is justified when people are occupied” and “End the occupation.” Music played from loudspeakers, and a number of police officers were positioned in the vicinity of the park. The crowd grew to an apparent more than 1,000 people over the span of an hour.

In a range of speeches, speakers called for a peaceful protest in Seattle while also saying Palestinians have the right to fight for freedom in Israel.

After the speeches, the crowd marched up Pine Street as leaders chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “Long live the intifada” and “Palestine is our demand, no peace on stolen land.” Marchers then turned south on Fifth Avenue and made their way through downtown before returning to Westlake Park.

Areen Alattal, a Seattle pharmacist who grew up in Jordan with Palestinian roots, came to Saturday’s rally with her husband and three children carrying a sign with the message “Defend Palestine, Defund Israel.” She said she decided to participate because she doesn’t feel represented by her U.S. government with regard to Israel and Palestinians.

“We work hard every day. We pay taxes. We don’t want our taxes to go to the people who hurt our people,” she said. “We matter too.”

President Joe Biden and local leaders including Gov. Jay Inslee have expressed support for Israel. Some Jewish organizations held vigils in the Seattle area this week. And law enforcement in cities throughout the U.S., including Seattle, said they have increased patrols around Jewish places of worship.

During a vigil Tuesday night at Temple De Hirsch Sinai on Capitol Hill, Rabbi Daniel Weiner called the Hamas attacks a “modern-day pogrom” and described feelings of pain, anger and resolve. The attacks from Gaza into Israel included killing and taking hostage large numbers of civilians.

“We hope, we pray, that Israel’s righteous and robust defense against those sworn to its destruction is powerful, purposeful and definitive,” he said.

As Saturday’s crowd grew, there were no counter demonstrators in sight. The rally took place during Shabbat, the weekly Jewish day of holiness and rest.

Alon Lapid, a spokesperson for SUPER-UW, said the message of the event was to “show solidarity with the Palestinian people,” who he said have been subject to “a colonial and apartheid regime occupation for over 75 years, who are fighting for their very right to call themselves Palestinians, to not live in refugee camps, and to not currently be massacred … by the millions in Gaza, which currently is deprived of electricity, water and basic medical attention.”

Lapid said he hoped the rally would raise awareness about support that the U.S. government and local institutions like the UW have given and continue to give to the Israeli government.

Before dispersing, protesters chanted, “I promise, I will never let Palestine down. I will never let Gaza down. I will never let the Palestinians down. I will never let the West Bank down.”

Despite taking place thousands of miles from the U.S., the conflict and the longstanding grievances underlying it have roiled American communities, including in the Seattle area.

Hundreds of people gathered in Kirkland last Sunday, with groups of demonstrators waving Palestinian and Israeli flags from opposite sides of a street. Some people briefly scuffled, with police at one point deploying a PepperBall bio-irritant into the crowd.

Hundreds also gathered Monday night in Bellevue, where the American Jewish Committee passed out signs with the message “Seattle Stands with Israel.” Area residents with friends and family in Israel and Gaza expressed fears about their loved ones, as lawmakers including U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and Inslee condemned the Hamas attack.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell warned against antisemitism ahead of the Tuesday night vigil at Temple De Hirsch Sinai and said police would step up their presence at local Jewish organizations. As the week wore on, area residents received news of friends and loved ones killed in the conflict, both in Israel and in Gaza.

Among the victims was UW alum Hayim Katsman, 32, who was killed during last Saturday’s attack by Hamas in his home in southwest Israel. His funeral was held Thursday in Israel, his mother posted on Facebook.

Some of the same groups that organized Saturday’s rally in Westlake Park held a rally on the UW’s Seattle campus Thursday. There were tense moments as students and other people voiced opposing views.

Another Free Palestine rally drew a crowd Friday to Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill, and Okumura, the medical volunteer from Seattle, spoke out from Gaza, where she has been stranded with hundreds of other Americans.

On Friday, protesters gathered outside and inside Murray’s office with signs that read, “Jews say stop genocide of Palestinians,” and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, joined other House progressives in a letter urging Biden to pressure Israel to minimize civilian casualties in its attacks.

The letter condemned the “shocking and horrifying terrorist attack” by Hamas as “the worst perpetration of violence inflicted on the Jewish people since the Holocaust” while also arguing that Israel’s response “must take into account the millions of innocent civilians in Gaza who themselves are victims of Hamas and are suffering the consequences of the terror campaign” in the form of displacement and death from Israeli strikes.

Local leaders have expressed concern about the safety of Jewish community members.

“Seattle stands in solidarity with our Jewish neighbors during this difficult time and will not allow this attack to prompt acts of antisemitism in our own city,” Harrell said in a statement Tuesday, calling the Hamas attacks horrifying and unjustifiable. “Too often, after international incidents of hate, there are ripple effects where communities are targeted in our neighborhoods.”

Due to anxieties about a former Hamas leader declaring Friday a day of protest, some of the area’s Jewish residents decided not to send their kids to school or go to service, said Miri Cypers, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Pacific Northwest office.

Cypers attended a meeting Thursday with Harrell along with other Jewish community representatives. “Security was the most repeated word. I think his team understands that,” Cypers said.

Seattle police said there were no significant incidents during Saturday’s rally and march and no hate crimes reported this past week in connection with the Israel-Hamas war. At one point Saturday, one man engaged in some yelling with marchers and was blocked from getting into the crowd.

Seattle Times staff reporter Lauren Girgis contributed to this story.