October 12, 2026
The home of an Orthodox Jewish family in the Seward Park neighborhood, south of Seattle, was subjected to an incident of vandalism, which included lowering and tearing down the flags of Israel and the United States, raising a Palestinian flag in their place, and writing slogans in support of Gaza.
According to what was reported by the Hebrew newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth”, surveillance cameras showed two people arriving at the house on Sunday night, between eleven thirty and midnight, where one of the suspects climbed the flagpole to take down the flags of Israel and the United States and destroy them, while the other took out a Palestinian flag from his bag and raised it in their place, leaving the two torn flags on the house’s mailbox.
The suspects wrote phrases on the walls of the house, including “Liberate Gaza” and “Jews for Palestine.” The police received a report about the incident and arrived at the site at around 7:30 a.m. on Monday. Family members reported that they believed their property had been targeted because of their ethnic origins, while the security authorities have not yet been able to identify the suspects and opened an investigation into the incident, along with other incidents witnessed in the area.
In a related context, the newspaper referred to the positions of Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, who accused Israel during her election campaign of committing “genocide in Gaza,” and promised to study boycotting the city’s assets linked to Tel Aviv and withdrawing investments from them. The newspaper explained that these positions raised concerns within the local Jewish community, despite Wilson’s prior pledge to coordinate with community institutions to ensure the security of gatherings during Jewish holidays.
Official data for the city of Seattle issued last August shows that 66 hate incidents were recorded during the first seven months of 2026, including 13 incidents targeting the Jewish community, representing about a fifth of the total incidents recorded in the city.
