A University of Washington student group that was sanctioned after a 2025 campus building takeover voiced support for the Islamic Republic of Iran on social media on March 1, a day after Israel and the United States launched a joint attack on Iran’s leadership.
“Death to America. Death to Israel. Glory to the martyrs. Long live the Islamic Republic of Iran. Long live the axis of resistance,” wrote Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return.
The group posted jointly with the Tariq el-Tahrir Youth and Student Network, which Stu Smith, an investigative analyst at the Manhattan Institute, told JNS is linked to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
“All solidarity with the people of Iran in confronting the joint US-Zionist aggression,” the groups wrote, calling for “the broadest possible mobilizations around the world to confront imperialism, Zionism and the complicit reactionary Arab regimes as they aim to topple Iran.”
Smith described the student groups as “insane and radicalized,” adding that “administrators have their heads in the sand.”
Victor Balta, a university spokesperson, told JNS that SUPER UW is “no longer recognized by” the school.
“We condemn any calls for violence,” Balta said, adding that the group’s recognition “was permanently revoked in May of last year and applications for reinstatement will not be considered.”
Members of SUPER UW were accused of occupying and damaging the university’s Interdisciplinary Engineering Building on May 5, 2025, during a protest demanding the school sever ties with Boeing over the company’s dealings with Israel. University officials said demonstrators caused about $1 million in damage.
Students initially were suspended after the incident. The university conducted proceedings and later found the students responsible for certain code violations but not for the vandalism itself, and the suspensions were lifted after disciplinary penalties were served.
On Tuesday, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed 33 counts of first-degree criminal trespass against individuals accused of participating in the May 5 occupation.
Smith compared the UW situation to recent activism controversies at Columbia University involving the coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest, saying the Seattle school “isn’t getting the attention it deserves despite it being a top-five public research university.”
“Until the Department of Education or Congress holds these school leaders accountable, we’re going to keep dealing with this festering problem,” he told JNS.
UW Jewish Alumni called on the university to issue a stronger condemnation.
“When people chanted ‘glory to the martyrs’ and praised Sinwar on campus, UW leaders said nothing,” the alumni group stated. “Now that ‘death to America’ has been added to the protesters’ talking points, will UW condemn it?”
