Rantz: UW club honors ‘martyrs’ murdering Jews, president won’t say ‘terrorists’

An official student club at the University of Washington (UW) celebrated the terrorist attacks against Israel. The extremist group even called the Hamas terrorists “martyrs of Palestine.” The UW president appears to take no issue with the club’s messaging; she refers to the terrorists as “Hamas gunmen.”

Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return (SUPER) posted a series of messages on its Facebook and Instagram pages. Each one was more disturbing than the other. One compliments “Palestinian resistance fighters” for its “largest operation against the occupier since the last October War fifty years prior.” They lauded the attacks as “an anticolonial struggle for land, coming from nearly a century of oppression, ethnic cleansing, and destruction of the Palestinian people.”

The group criticizes UW for being “complicit in the crimes of the occupation.” The club members are upset that “zionist academics” are invited to speak on campus (translation: Jews shouldn’t speak on campus) and that the school offers students opportunities to study abroad in Israel.

The most despicable comment was posted Sunday morning. It declared, “SUPER UW honors the martyrs of Palestine and uplifts the right of Palestinians to resistance until return.”

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Jew hating as a club

On the SUPER UW Instagram page, some UW students weighed in.

Véronique Harris, UW law student and activist, posted “FROM THE RIVER TO THE MF SEA.” Tasbeet Iman, an engineering student, posted a similar message — one that promotes the erasure of Israel. User “dancajam” argued that “capturing civilians to immediately trade for the freedom of long suffering political prisoners hostage in horrible Israeli prisons is a strategic necessity and that example isn’t even really an atrocity, it’s a effective tactic to stop atrocities.”

We shouldn’t be shocked if this extremist student group would celebrate rape and murder, given its past behavior.

In August, SUPER UW held a summer retreat to discuss their Jew hatred. They posted on Instagram that they believe Palestinians have a “right to resist by any means necessary” and that Israel should not exist (they believe in “a single Palestine from the river to the sea”).

What is shocking, however, is that UW administrators don’t seem to have an opinion about an extremist club operating on campus.

UW doesn’t seem to mind an extremist club fomenting hate

UW administrators have clear rules associated with student clubs, including not putting “UW” in the name unless it says “UW Chapter” or is part of a national organization. SUPER UW appears to be in violation, technically.

The club must also have a “stated purpose” that “must be consistent with the mission of the university and the organization must primarily serve the needs and interests of the students at the University of Washington.” UW administrators do not think supporting and promoting terrorism against Jews is in violation of the school’s mission.

It doesn’t strain credulity to believe SUPER UW may incite violence with their inflammatory and hateful rhetoric. Indeed, that may be the point. Does this cross a line?

“Student organizations, like every other member of our society, have the right to express their opinions. The UW neither monitors nor takes any actions against individuals or student organizations for engaging in protected speech,” UW spokesperson Victor Balta tells the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.

But that is not true. UW President Ana Cauce does monitor student clubs.

Under Cauce, UW was sued and forced to settle after saddling the UW College Republicans with security fees in 2018 that no student club could pay, a move likely intended to stop an event with the conservative group Patriot Prayer from occurring. And she certainly comments on clubs when she doesn’t agree with their messages.

University of Washington Jew Haters are rallying tomorrow to celebrate and support the Hamas “resistance.” pic.twitter.com/JEIwryfcrk

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) October 11, 2023

Cauce might have too much in common with SUPER UW

When the UW College Republicans held a bake sale to call out the racism of affirmative action, Cauce released a statement condemning the strategy to call out affirmative action.

Update from Jason Rantz: Another councilmember wants director to step down for antisemitism

While claiming the campus needed “reasoned debate on affirmative action,” Cauce quickly said “the so-called ‘affirmative action’ bake sale the UW College Republicans are hosting today has no place in such a debate.” She condemned it for not being “a forum for serious discussion” and “this sale humiliates and dehumanizes others.”

Does supporting Hamas and violence against Jews have a place in the debate around Israeli policy? Does it “dehumanize” Jews? Cauce doesn’t seem willing to weigh in.

Cauce did, however, offer a statement recognizing “Palestine” when discussing the death of a UW alum, Hayim Katsman. He was a victim in Israel of the terrorist group that SUPER UW supports. But Cauce couldn’t bring herself to label Hamas a terrorist organization. She said the student was killed by “Hamas gunmen.”

Balta offered a statement in a similar vain, making sure not to call out Hamas terrorists.

“UW joins the world in mourning the significant loss of life in Israel and Gaza and our hearts go out to countless others who are suffering,” he said.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-6 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 Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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