Rantz: UW Seattle embraced the Nazi Youth as a new generation of hate group has formed

The University of Washington (UW) is one of many college campuses across the country filled with protesting students, staff and outside agitators rallying against Israel’s right to exist. It’s serious and threatening enough that it demands we call these activists out for what they are: UW Nazi Youth. This new generation of Nazis are surrounded and egged on by like-minded staff and outside organizers and agitators.

The Nazi label is not hyperbolic; it is a sobering reflection of how history will repeat itself when hate is allowed to flourish unchecked. And at the UW and other campuses, hate is flourishing. The students’ single-minded fanaticism and refusal to engage with differing viewpoints mirror the indoctrination of the Nazi Youth, who were trained to follow a destructive ideology without question. It explains why you have imbeciles carrying “Gays for Palestine” signs. Today’s Nazis are ensnared in an echo chamber, where any dissenting opinion is met with hostility or outright violence.

This new generation of Nazi activists employs a dangerous combination of hateful rhetoric, intimidation, violence and fringe ideological purity reminiscent of the darkest chapters of history. Ironically, the threat comes from the very activists who claimed they were fighting a “literal fascist” in former president Donald Trump. But this rise of a new Nazi Youth is deeply alarming, especially for Jewish Seattleites and UW students.

Just because they’re not currently rounding up Jews for slaughter doesn’t mean they get to escape the moniker of Nazi. I can’t think of anything positive that can come from a group cheerleading Hamas.

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Shouldn’t we call these UW student activists what they are? They’re a new generation of Nazi Youth

The demonization of an entire country of people is strikingly similar to the propaganda used by the original Nazis.

UW campus activists commonly crossed the line from what they pretend is “criticizing Israeli policies” to outright violent antisemitism. Their chants always include language that call for the end of Israel. “We don’t want two-state, we want 1948” and “from the river to the Sea, Palestine will be free” are unambiguous despite phony protestations otherwise. Maybe Seattle media members can follow up with a clarifying question or two? Perhaps they can find out if calling for a “global intifada” isn’t about violence against Israel, then what is it about?

Jews or Zionists, the codeword Nazi Youth use to avoid being explicitly antisemitic, are regularly demonized and dehumanized as genocidal baby killers and colonizers. Meanwhile, terrorists with Hamas are labeled “freedom fighters” and the “resistance.” That Hamas murdered actual babies, raped women, murdered innocent civilians and took scores of hostages doesn’t seem to matter to these new Nazis. They either ignore the inconvenient truth about the terrorists they’re rooting for, or they pretend it’s part of a Jewish media lie.

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Assault and vandalism at UW is driven by a hatred of Jews

The intimidation tactics employed by these students, staff, and outside agitators also draw a direct line to the UW Nazi Youth.

Just as the Nazi Youth were trained to suppress dissent violently, today’s UW Nazis sought to silence any opposition through aggressive disruption or stalking and assaulting. Jewish UW students reported feeling unsafe, not just because of the content of the protests, but because of the hostile environment created around them. But Cauce did nothing. She didn’t want to upset the Nazis, even though it would inevitably escalate.

And that’s what happened last week when UW Nazis vandalized the campus en masse. One of the messages? “Save a life. Kill your local colonizer.” The messages were so vile, even Cauce was finally forced into calling it antisemitic. But that’s all she did to condemn the UW Nazi Youth.

Rather than clear the UW Liberated Zone encampment, she again politely asked the Nazis to leave voluntarily. In Seattle, we don’t call police on Nazis. We just label police the Nazis and then wonder why no one wants to be a cop here.

Negotiating with UW Nazi Youth

We do, apparently, negotiate with Nazis. At least college presidents do.

Cauce’s recent decision to come to an agreement with activists occupying the quad is a particularly shameful episode in this saga. But given her track record and far-left views, we shouldn’t be shocked.

Rather than standing firm against the tactics of intimidation, Cauce chose to appease the protesters, effectively endorsing their hateful rhetoric. This capitulation undermines the university’s claim to being a place of learning and open debate. It sends a scary message that bullying and occupation are effective strategies to achieve political ends.

Cauce came to an agreement with the Nazi Youth so that they would agree to end the encampment. The United Front for Palestinian Liberation, a local chapter of a hate club of privileged college kids unhappy with their barista gigs and in search of meaning, earned five concessions from Cauce and the UW.

One of the concessions is that the UW will review changes to its study abroad program so that the college cuts ties with Israel. The Nazi Youth claim the new programs will “exclude participation from students from specific countries or communities, including Palestinian or other Arab students.” They think this covers Israel, though it doesn’t. Calling a country an “apartheid state” doesn’t mean it is one. But “apartheid” may be one of the words the Radical Left has redefined — like “woman.”

Another concession: UW waive tuition for at least 20 displaced Palestinian students from Gaza. This will definitely end well.

Thankfully, sometimes antisemitism is boring

Of course, the Nazi Youth aren’t happy with the concessions. United Front students released a press statement to say they “are under no illusions that this agreement is a win.”

“Many of our demands remain unfulfilled as the UW has shown clear reluctance to make even the smallest progress towards reducing our complicity in the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” according to the statement. In other words, they got a bit bored and didn’t want to keep pretending they were living in the encampment, especially since so many unvetted, creepy adults in the greater new Nazi movement moved in.

The activists claimed that they would never leave until there was a “Free Palestine.” But do you know how tiresome and expensive it was to drive to their parents’ homes in Kirkland, Edmonds and Sammamish after their Jew-hating meet-up sessions at the encampment? They never lived there. Many of the tents were empty; it was a part of their performative political expression. The only camping most of the student activists would do is glamping.

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Are all these Nazis fueled by hate?

While there’s undoubtedly pure antisemitism within the movement of the new generation of Nazi, they’re not all driven by hate. Many of them just have no clue what they’re talking about, taken advantage of by bigots.

It’s hard to not consider some of the Nazi Youth activists victims of their own ignorance. Do you think they can define apartheid and then apply it to Israel? Can they explain what a genocide actually is? Could they truly defend their support of Hamas? Of course not.

It’s Gaza that is unwelcome to Jews, not Israel unwelcome to Palestinians. If Israel wanted to commit a “genocide,” they’d probably be less targeted in their strikes and they probably wouldn’t warn civilians of their military targets. Us Jews are usually pretty efficient; this would be uncharacteristically inefficient of us. And no, they have no good answer for why they support Hamas rapists and bigots who throw LGBT people from rooftops.

These activists don’t even have real Jews in their lives. Their bestie from Jewish Voices for Peace is representative of the majority of the group: they’re Gentiles, not Jews. Of the members who are actual Jews, most are self-loathing and grew up culturally Jewish but never even had a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah. They represent a fraction of a fraction of the Jewish community, though you wouldn’t know that based on how much media time they’re given. (KING 5 is especially egregious at this; they’re the local news network for the new Nazis and they routinely focus the attention on Jewish voices that don’t come close to representing a Jewish viewpoint.)

The good news is that education can change the ignorant members of the new Nazi Youth. But they can still do a lot of damage between now and their willingness to read a history book.

Breaking my rule

Throughout my entire radio career, I steadfastly avoided labeling anyone I disagreed with a “Nazi.” In fact, I consistently called out those who used such rhetoric to demonize their opponents.

This stance became a guiding principle for me. Using Holocaust imagery or calling someone a Nazi cheapens the horrific suffering Jews endured. It’s particularly off-putting to me as a Jew. My go-to response to such accusations was, “When you find people who genuinely want to genocide the Jewish people, I’ll join you.”

But now, I’m breaking that rule because it’s relevant and the most accurate descriptor of what these activists believe and promote. Disagreement on a political issue doesn’t make one a Nazi — unless the political issue becomes Israel’s right to exist and defend against terrorists.

I don’t take any pleasure in calling people Nazis. It still feels wrong. Yet, I know that if I don’t use my platform to call out this hate — and those like Cauce who legitimize it — I won’t enjoy what will happen to me as a Jew.

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