Gossip Guy

Advocates warn they may face torture by Israeli prison guards Two residents of Washington State have been abducted by Israeli military forces while participating in an international humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza. According to the Gaza Sumud Flotilla (GSF), volunteers Alex Schaeffer and Andrew Bly were among the more than 400 activists intercepted at sea by the Israeli navy on May 18 and 19. Flotilla participants currently remain in Israeli custody.

It may be the latest sign of an erosion of academic freedom to criticize Israel On March 27, the University of Washington removed its Middle East Center (MEC) director, associate professor of Persian and Iranian Studies Aria Fani, only a few months into his three-year term. The sudden decision came after Fani had sent several emails about the war on Iran to the MEC listserv, which he managed.

Community members held a vigil on Saturday night to mourn the killing of 26-year-old Seattle activist Kai Sorem by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Sorem was a longtime Filipina American youth organizer in South Seattle and her shocking death sparked cries for justice and accountability. Participants denounced the deadly April 19 attacks by the AFP as a “massacre of civilians” which left Sorem and 18 other people dead in the Toboso region of the island of Negros, Philippines.

Wow, what a January. You could say 2026 started off on the wrong foot. It kicked off with the U.S. illegally abducting Nicolás Maduro, the president of the sovereign state of Venezuela. Then ICE officers extrajudicially killed Keith Porter, Renée Good and Alex Pretti amid the agency’s tyrannical attacks on immigrants. President Donald Trump is also busy creating his own, personally controlled version of the U.N., with Gaza its inaugural victim.

Washington State resident Jas Ikeda says she is in imminent danger of naval interception by Israel as a participant of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), a humanitarian operation to deliver aid to Gaza, which has been under near-total blockade for nearly two years. Launched from Barcelona on Aug. 31 the has sailed through the Mediterranean Sea carrying food, baby formula, medical equipment and other basic humanitarian aid and gathering contingents from more than 40 countries.

A human rights watchdog alleges the federal agencies have grossly violated international law A new report from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) has reached a startling conclusion: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have forcibly disappeared people in Washington state in at least 16 instances, including 14 individuals and two families, since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January.

A collective of 62 Seattle-area journalists and media workers have signed on to an open letter demanding an end to Israel’s killings of Palestinian journalists in Gaza and calling for their protection as they continue to report on the ongoing war and genocide in the Gaza Strip. The signing journalists come from more than 20 different news organizations, ranging from large national news outlets to local newspapers and independent freelancers.

A collective of 62 Seattle-area journalists and media workers have signed on to an open letter demanding an end to Israel’s killings of Palestinian journalists in Gaza and calling for their protection as they continue to report on the ongoing war and genocide in the Gaza Strip. The signing journalists come from more than 20 different news organizations, ranging from large national news outlets to local newspapers and independent freelancers.

New data from the Seattle City Budget Office (CBO) shows the city spent nearly twice the amount of money it had budgeted for on settlements, judgements and litigation related to actions of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) between 2014 and 2024. Over that eleven-year period, Seattle’s Finance and Administrative Services had projected expenses of $28.6 million for the “Police Action Expenses” subcategory of the pool of funds the city sets aside to pay for litigation and settlements.

Hundreds of community members participated in a 14-hour-long protest against ICE at the Seattle Federal Building this Tuesday, June 10. Activists mobilized against the arrest and detainment of migrants after their immigration court hearings by Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.