Socialist Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson has appointed longtime activist Jesse Hagopian to her transition team, elevating a figure known nationally for his anti-police activism, anti-Israel organizing, and involvement in radical education campaigns. The move is already sparking alarm among Jewish community leaders and public-safety advocates who warn that Wilson is surrounding herself with movement activists rather than pragmatic civic leaders.
Hagopian, a co-editor at Rethinking Schools and a leading figure in the Black Lives Matter at School movement, was placed on Wilson’s Arts, Culture & Creative Economy working group. While the appointment is framed as an effort to bring “equity-focused voices” into City Hall, Hagopian’s track record in Seattle classrooms and activist spaces has ignited controversy for years.
NEW: Anti-Israel & Socialist Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson has appointed Hamas supporter Jesse Hagopian to her transition team as a policy advisor in Arts, Culture & Creative Economy
In his lectures, he falsely compares Israel to Jim Crow, slavery & apartheid & promotes BDS https://t.co/m69gxcJtlg
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) November 27, 2025
For many, Wilson’s selection of Hagopian signals a deliberate ideological shift at the highest level of city government, one that could deepen divisions at a moment when Seattle is already struggling with public safety, political polarization, and rising antisemitism.
Hagopian’s anti-police activism raises public-safety concerns
Hagopian is one of Washington State’s most visible anti-police activists, with a record that includes:
Leading the push for “Police-Free Schools”
Hagopian has been a central organizer in the national campaign to eliminate School Resource Officers (SROs). He argues that police in schools “criminalize” students and advocates replacing law enforcement with “restorative justice” models. His writings call for the complete removal of police from Seattle schools.
He spends his days calling people racists & peddling critical race theory. He retweets antisemites like Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Marc Lamont Hill & allies of Hamas while attempting to equate the black experience to the Palestinians and demonize the Jews and Israel pic.twitter.com/23Ntb6ki5T
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) November 3, 2023
Organizing protests to abolish school policing
As part of Black Lives Matter at School, Hagopian helped coordinate walkouts and demonstrations promoting “Cops Out of Schools,” “Fund Counselors, Not Cops,” and similar slogans.
Labeling policing as inherently racist
Hagopian has described police departments as “white supremacist institutions” and argued that policing “perpetuates harm rather than safety.” He supports redirecting police funding toward activist-led programs and youth initiatives.
Public-safety advocates view this approach as reckless. With Seattle facing record levels of auto theft, chronic 911 delays, surging open-air drug use, and historically low police staffing, critics say placing an anti-police activist inside the mayor-elect’s transition team is a dangerous signal.
A high-profile anti-Israel activist brought into City Hall
Hagopian is also one of the most prominent advocates for “Teaching Palestine”, a curriculum project he co-edited that frames Israel as a colonial, apartheid state and encourages educators to integrate pro-Palestinian political narratives into K–12 classrooms. The materials present Zionism primarily as an oppressive ideology and downplay or omit Jewish historical indigeneity, security concerns, and the global context of antisemitism.
Her son Jesse, follows in his mother's footsteps of hate
In 2014, he appeared at a lecture titled “BDS 101" urging @UW students to support the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel. https://t.co/nYqeudjXgs
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) November 3, 2023
Jewish organizations have sharply criticized similar curricular trends as politically biased and culturally hostile, arguing that they place Jewish students in an uncomfortable or adversarial classroom environment. Hagopian has frequently echoed language used by anti-Israel activist movements, describing Israel’s military actions as “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “state terror.”
He has also spoken at rallies where slogans targeting “Zionists” blurred into hostility toward Jewish supporters of Israel, further heightening community concern.
Wilson’s own comments deepen concerns
Wilson has made statements on Israel that have alarmed Jewish organizations. In August, responding on X to a question about the “genocide in Gaza,” she replied that she is “strongly opposed.” Regina Sassoon Friedland, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Seattle office, said Wilson’s genocide claim “lacks factual or legal foundation.”
The lecture was organized and sponsored by SUPER UW, the same organization that helped organize the Hamas rallies recently at @uw including a vigil for terrorists. The group previously promoted an anti-Israel divestment resolution at the university.https://t.co/z5cS7tiKoQ
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) November 3, 2023
After her win, Wilson received public congratulations from CAIR, described by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terror-financing case in U.S. history (the Holy Land Foundation trial). Though she did not list CAIR as an official endorser, their praise underscored the political alignment between Wilson and certain activist networks.
He posited the false claim that its illegal to teach Israeli children about Palestinian refugees from 1948 & callously referred to the resumption of national rights to the indigenous Jewish population after 2000 years of persecution & exile as the “Nakba”https://t.co/zzkrDu2Mwb
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) November 3, 2023
Jewish leaders and safety advocates respond: “This is not the leadership Seattle needs”
Jewish community leaders warn that bringing Hagopian into City Hall risks further inflaming tensions at a moment when antisemitic incidents have risen sharply nationwide and have already disrupted local campuses and community spaces.
In a 2012 symposium “From Jim Crow to Israeli Apartheid“ he said any Black voice supporting Israel is illegitimate claiming “blackwashing” [is] taking its place w/“pinkwashing”&“greenwashing” as ways to obscure the bloody reality of Israeli occupation.”https://t.co/q6WaKmL7fK
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) November 3, 2023
Public-safety advocates echo similar concerns. They argue that elevating an anti-police activist reflects a disregard for residents’ fears and could accelerate Seattle’s ongoing crisis of recruitment shortages, crime surges, and weakened public order.
Parents, teachers, and moderate community members, many familiar with Hagopian’s activism in Seattle Public Schools, were also quick to weigh in, noting that his work often blurs the line between education and political activism.