Two suspects tore down Israeli and American flags outside an Orthodox Jewish family's home in Seattle earlier this week, replacing them with a Palestinian flag and spray-painting pro-Palestinian slogans on the property while the family was away. Seattle police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.
The vandalism occurred in Seward Park, a neighborhood in southern Seattle with a large Orthodox Jewish community. According to police, security cameras captured two suspects approaching the home late Sunday night, between 11:45 p.m. and midnight. They removed the Israeli and American flags from a flagpole, damaged them and replaced them with a Palestinian flag they had brought with them.
Surveillance footage shows one suspect climbing the flagpole to reach the flags while the other pulls a Palestinian flag from a bag. The suspects then tear the removed flags and place them on the mailbox, which they had defaced with the words "Free Gaza." The phrase "Jews for Palestine" was also spray-painted on the driveway.
Police arrived at the home Monday at approximately 7:30 a.m. Family members told officers they believed their property had been targeted because of their Jewish identity. The suspects have not been identified.
Investigators also reported two other incidents of property damage in the same area that showed possible signs of a hate motive. Police said the cases might be connected, although no link has yet been established.
‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Long live October 7’ sprayed in nearby park
Several days before the incident at the family's home, vandals spray-painted the slogans "Death to Israel" and "Long live October 7" at nearby Beer Sheva Park, named after Seattle's Israeli sister city.
Even before the latest attack, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle said it had been in contact with police over additional acts of vandalism in the neighborhood and at Jewish sites across the city.
One of the slogans spray-painted in Seattle's Beer Sheva Park
According to Seattle municipal data released in August, 13 of the 66 hate crimes recorded in the city during the first seven months of 2026 targeted Jews, accounting for nearly one-fifth of all reported incidents.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, who has been dubbed the "Mamdani of the West Coast," accused Israel of committing "genocide in Gaza" during her election campaign and pledged to examine boycott measures and the divestment of municipal investments linked to Israel.
Her positions raised concerns among members of the local Jewish community. Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Wilson pledged that Seattle police would coordinate with Jewish community institutions to ensure that worshippers and community members could gather safely during the holiday period.