KTTH OPINION

Rantz: Seattle teacher Ian Golash put on administrative leave, father says

Apr 16, 2024, 11:30 AM | Updated: 12:25 pm

Image: Seattle Public Schools teacher Ian Golash, left, speaks to Accuracy in Media. Golash has bee...

Seattle Public Schools teacher Ian Golash, left, speaks to Accuracy in Media. Golash has been put on administrative leave, his father said on social media. (Image courtesy of Accuracy in Media)

(Image courtesy of Accuracy in Media)

Controversial Seattle teacher Ian Golash was reportedly placed on paid administrative leave following his antisemitic comments, including a defense of the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7.

Mike Golash, who lists Ian as his son, posted the news on Facebook. In a comment, he said that Ian “has been placed on paid administrative leave for the rest of the semester for speaking out against genocide in Gaza. He has been told not to speak to any students or teachers in the Seattle school system.” The father said this occurred after his son was “attacked by the Zionists.” Neither Seattle Public Schools (SPS) nor Ian Golash would confirm the development.

“Regarding your question about placing an educator on administrative leave, SPS is looking into the matter. While our review is in process, we will not comment on personnel matters related to this topic,” a SPS spokesperson told The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.

Two parents have told The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH that they were told by Chief Sealth International High School staff that Golash is out for the year.

No, Ian Golash was not ‘attacked’ for ‘speaking out against genocide’

Golash, leading the Social Studies department and teaching Ethnic Studies World History to freshmen and sophomores at Chief Sealth has earned a reputation amongst parents and students for his antisemitic positions. Up until this point, SPS and the school’s principal have turned a blind eye, according to students and parents.

After The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH first exposed Golash’s troubling syllabus and social media defenses of Hamas, Adam Guillette of Accuracy in Media (AIM) was inspired to confront him. Armed with a camera crew and a mobile billboard criticizing Golash’s antisemitism, AIM recorded the entire showdown. It was framed around Golash’s previous support of Hamas using sexual violence, murder, and kidnapping as an acceptable form of “resistance.”

Hamas rape denial

In a Jan. 27 Facebook post, Golash wrote: “Yes, I believe that resistance against colonialism — and yes I believe Israel is a settler colonial state — and all forms of oppression is justified. People who are being oppressed get to decide what forms of resistance works best for them, not me or anyone else — especially not the oppressors.”

After twice denying there’s evidence of rape by asking, “Where’s the evidence?” Guillette asked Golash, “Were women murdered at the Music Festival?”

“They were,” Golash admitted.

“Was that justified?” Guillette asked.

After three seconds of pause, Golash said, “Yes.”

“The murder of innocent women just attending a music festival, that was justified in your opinion?” Guillette countered.

“No, I think resistance against Israel is justified. Yes,” Golash said.

“Do girls attending a music festival count as Israel?” Guillette asked before Golash dismissed the questions as “a pointless conversation.”

Ian Golash is denying rape of Israeli women

Guillette asked Golash how he could support the rape of women. The response was shocking: “Where’s the evidence that there was rape?” There’s plenty of evidence.

Amit Soussana, a former hostage, detailed her own sexual assault and torture in a graphic interview with The New York Times on March 26. She explained how a Hamas terrorist forced her to perform a sex act on him while he pressed a pistol to her forehead.

A United Nations investigation found there were “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence — including rape and gang rape — occurred across multiple locations of Israel and the Gaza periphery during the attacks on 7 October 2023.” The March 11 report relied on “confidential interviews with 34 individuals, including survivors and witnesses of the 7 October 2023 attacks, released hostages, first responders and health and service providers.” It reviewed 50 hours of footage of the attacks, more than 5,000 photos and visits to four attack sites and the morgue where victims’ bodies were transferred.

More from Jason Rantz: Seattle student failed quiz by Ian Golash for saying men can’t get pregnant

Golash responds to AIM video

On his Facebook page, Golash posted a defense of his positions after the AIM interview. It tripled down on his defense of Hamas terrorism. He wrote:

Yes, I believe that Palestinians are people that deserve to live free from an oppressive occupation. And yes, I believe that Israel has carried out an oppressive occupation in Palestinian people since the first Nakba in 1948.

Yes, I believe that resistance against colonialism and all forms of oppression is justified. And yes, I believe that the people who are being oppressed get to decide what form of resistance works best for them, not me or anyone else, especially not the oppressors.

Golash also defended his anti-police comments to AIM in which he said “all cops are bastards,” including the New York Police Department officers who heroically saved lives during the September 11 terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Centers.

He wrote: “This is a political statement. It makes no condemnation of any person that chooses to be a police officer. It speaks of the institution of law enforcement. It understands the role of the police as protectors of wealth, property and the status quo and acknowledges the racist origins of policing in the United States. It understands laws as threats of violence and police as the purveyors of that violence.”

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

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