Jewish Candidate For Seattle City Council Faces Violent Anti-Semitic Threats

Ari Hoffman with his family
(JTA) — A Jewish candidate for Seattle City Council has been subjected to anti-Semitic threats on the online message board 8Chan and on social media.
Ari Hoffman, a married father of three, is one of nearly 50 candidates for seven of the nine council seats. The primary is scheduled for Aug. 6 and the general election is Nov. 5.
The original 8Chan post, first reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI, identifies Hoffman and says he has an Israeli flag hanging outside his home. The post asks what should be done about him.
8Chan is an online message board that since its launch in 2013 has been a nearly lawless space for free speech, much of it hateful or dangerous, according to MEMRI.
MEMRI reported that the comments on the post included “violent calls to action in addition to nonviolent content.”
At least one comment called to kill Hoffman and to burn the flag. Another suggested throwing a Molotov cocktail at his home. Another comment features an ethnic slur about his son seen in a campaign photo. A nonviolent comment suggested that someone run against Hoffman and fly a Palestinian flag.
Hoffman has contacted police repeatedly about stolen campaign signs, and alleged that some two dozen signs were stolen from the yards of Jewish homeowners.
The American Jewish Committee has called on Seattle leaders to condemn the threats.
Hoffman, a graduate of Yeshiva University, is running on a conservative platform. He is a supporter of the NRA and is affiliated with the group Safe Seattle, which some consider an anti-homeless hate group, according to the local media.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Opinion Is this new documentary giving voice to American Jewish anguish — or simply stoking fear?
- 4
Opinion Mike Huckabee said there’s ‘no such thing as a Palestinian.’ It’s worth thinking about what that means
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Think every Palestinian in Gaza is Hamas? This week’s protests prove you’re wrong
-
Opinion A Palestinian Oscar-winner’s arrest shocked the world. For these Jewish activists, it was terrifyingly normal
-
Opinion In the Trump administration and Israel, a grotesque display of virility coupled with a loss of humanity
-
Fast Forward Cornell’s new Jewish president says he is ‘very comfortable with where Cornell is currently’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.