The weekend attack on pro-Israel marchers in Colorado with a makeshift flamethrower marks the latest instance of antisemitic violence, which has grown more brazen and brutal as Israel’s war with the terrorist group Hamas has continued.
Sunday’s fiery assault in Boulder that left 12 people wounded comes less than two weeks after a pair of Israeli Embassy staffers were gunned down outside of D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum, and less than two months after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, had his home set on fire during the Passover holiday.
Authorities in each respective attack said the suspects proclaimed they were committing the violence in the name of the Palestinians.
Thousands of civilian casualties from Israeli offensives have convinced some activists that the Jewish state’s military campaign qualifies as a “genocide.”
Israel began bombarding Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, raid, which killed more than 1,200 civilians in southern Israel and saw 250 people taken hostage. Antisemitic incidents have become more common since.
Some of the assailants in the recent attacks chanted “Free Palestine” during their attack or arrest, a rallying cry for those who have adopted pro-Hamas viewpoints.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the suspect in the Colorado attack, is facing federal hate crime charges in the incident in Boulder because he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,” according to court documents filed Monday.
The filing also said the suspect, an Egyptian illegal immigrant, planned the attack for a year and told investigators “he would do it again.”
The White House said Mr. Soliman overstayed a tourism visa granted to him by the Biden administration in 2022. The previous White House gave him a work permit afterward.
“Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, will not be tolerated in the United States of America,” President Trump posted Monday on Truth Social.
“He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy. Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law,” he said.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said earlier that “immigration security is national security. No more hostile migration. Keep them out and send them back.”
FBI Director Kash Patel called the violent spasm a “targeted terror attack” as agency leaders in Denver said the suspect used a homemade flamethrower and lobbed “incendiary devices” at a crowd that was marching to commemorate Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.
The victims include 12 people who range in age from 52 to 88. Officials said two of the victims remain in area hospitals as they recover from severe burn injuries.
Run For The Hills, the Jewish community group that organized the march, said one of the victims was a Holocaust survivor.
Mr. Soliman, 45, chose to target the Jewish group after looking them up online, court documents said.
Police found 14 unlit Molotov cocktails in a bag linked to the suspect at the scene, and also said he had a “backpack weed sprayer” filled with gasoline that functioned as a makeshift flamethrower.
The suspect told authorities he researched how to make the Molotov cocktails on YouTube and threw two of the homemade firebombs at the crowd. Mr. Soliman said he waited until his daughter graduated before launching his attack, according to court documents.
Mr. Soliman faces a litany of charges at the state level, such as attempted murder, assault, and offenses related to making and using incendiary devices. He is being held on a $10 million bail following his initial court appearance Monday.
“This vile anti-Semitic violence comes just weeks after the horrific murder of two young Jewish Americans in Washington DC,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We will never tolerate this kind of hatred. We refuse to accept a world in which Jewish Americans are targeted for who they are and what they believe.”
Prosecutors in the District are still investigating potential hate crime and terrorism charges for Elias Rodriguez, the 31-year-old who is accused of fatally shooting two Israeli Embassy workers who were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum.
Mr. Rodriguez is already facing multiple murder charges in the May 21 slayings of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26. The victims were days away from getting engaged in Jerusalem.
Authorities said Mr. Rodriguez admitted to the deadly shooting and that he did it “for Palestine” and “for Gaza.” As he was being led away in handcuffs, the suspect began chanting “Free, free Palestine.”
Mr. Rodriguez allegedly penned a manifesto that frequently refers to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas as a “genocide.”
It’s a loaded word for Israeli leaders and local Jewish figures, who believe referring to the Israeli offensives as some form of annihilation is false and encourages violence from extremists.
“Don’t use words like ‘genocide,’ don’t use words like ‘ethnic cleansing’ as if Israel were trying to kill every single last Palestinian,” Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, told The Washington Times.
“When you start saying things like that, and then you have American organizations using it, amplifying it on social media, then you get people who are off balance and radicalized … what comes to their mind is ‘I know I’m going to attack people,’” Mr. Halber said.
Mr. Rodriguez is being held behind bars with an expected return to court on June 18.
The media’s willingness to parrot Hamas talking points has also enraged members of the Trump administration.
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, blamed journalists for uncritically accepting Hamas’ claims Sunday that Israeli forces killed several Palestinians seeking assistance from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund.
He said drones at the scene and eyewitness testimony showed there were no fatalities or injuries.
“It is Hamas that continues to terrorize and intimidate those who seek food aid,” Mr. Huckabee said in a message posted on the embassy’s website. “The only source for these misleading, exaggerated, and utterly fabricated stories came from Hamas sources, which are designed to fan the flames of antisemitic hate that is arguably contributing to violence against Jews in the United States.”
Before the two most recent attacks, a man with pro-Palestinian views was accused of breaking into Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s mansion and lighting the residence on fire on April 13.
Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat, had family staying in his home to celebrate the first night of Passover when police said the suspect hopped over a fence, slipped past the governor’s security team and smashed out windows with a hammer before tossing homemade firebombs inside the house.
The governor and his family, who were sleeping in a different part of the home, escaped unscathed after being shaken awake by state troopers.
Court documents said suspect Cody Balmer, 38, turned himself in later that day and told authorities he “will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” in what investigators treated as a reference to Mr. Shapiro.
The filings also said Mr. Balmer told officers that if he came across the governor, he would have ”beaten him with his hammer.” The suspect also admitted to “harboring hatred” toward Mr. Shapiro.
Mr. Balmer faces attempted murder, arson and terrorism charges. He has his next court hearing in August.
Mr. Halber, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said he wants federal grants for security upgrades — such as bollards, shatter-proof windows and surveillance cameras — to fortify synagogues and other places where Jews gather.
At the state and local level in Maryland, he said government programs help religious groups to pay for security guards and off-duty police officers.
Mr. Halber said antisemitism is often a reflection of other toxic, divisive attitudes, which means groups other than Jews could be targeted by hate-fueled radicals.
“If it happens against Jews, it’s going to happen against other groups,” he said. “If you’re a member of another ethnic group and you think, ‘Well, it’s only happening to the Jewish community, I’m safe’ — no, you’re not. Eventually, when hatred is allowed to spiral out of control, American society falls.”
• Kerry Picket, Stephen Dinan and Mike Glenn contributed to this report.
