Through the Static

By Hannah Saunders

Several Seattle Town Hall attendees from former IOF soldier Noa Cochva’s April 19 speaking event were video-graphed making heinous remarks about Palestinian babies and people. TtS contributor Chris Rojas confronted an attendee as they were walking to their car and asked if they killed any people in Palestine.

“There is no innocent people,” he responded.

That man is Ali Kimiai, a board member of the American Mideast Coalition for Democracy, and owner of the contracting and remodeling business Gilan LLC, located in Renton.

Kimiai told Rojas he is part of the IDF, and Rojas asked if he shot or killed anyone.

“You want to get killed, motherfucker?” Kimiai said. “You want to get killed?”

Kimai walked forward with a smile and two Seattle Police officers escorting from behind. Kimai has been a political activist for 20 years, and studied financial management. For the 2023 governor position, he donated $100 to MAGA Republican David Reichert.

“He is also a [precinct committee officer] at the 47th District Republican in the State of Washington and many Republican elite members in the Stat of Washington know him,” according to his bio on American Mideast.

Kimiai thinks highly of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah of Iran who was overthrown during the Islamic revolution. Pahlavi has claimed the Israel and U.S. war on Iran is a “humanitarian intervention, and its target is the Islamic Republic, its apparatus of repression, and its machinery of killing, not the country and great nation of Iran.” Kimiai publicly posted a picture with Pahlavi, who is living in exile in Washington D.C., about five weeks ago.

On April 7, protesters took to Seattle City Hall to speak out against the war on Iran, but several others showed up to counter protest with signs that hailed Trump. Kimiai was one of the counter protesters in attendance.

Kimiai has also been advertising an April 26 action pushing for regime change in Iran, with Pahlavi being his top choice. Protesters plan to march from the federal building to Pike Place Market.

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