Attack on Small Group of Marchers Renews Attention on Anti-Semitism in U.S.
On Sunday, 1 June in Boulder, Colorado, eyewitness accounts and personal video recordings detail a man with homemade incendiary devices and a makeshift flamethrower device attacking a group of people gathered to express support for Israeli hostages still in captivity in Gaza.
The man arrested and charged in the incident is Mohamed Sabry Soliman. Witnesses said he threw Molotov cocktails into a small crowd and shouted “Free Palestine.” The attack took place at Pearl Street Mall, Boulder’s central four-block pedestrian space with numerous restaurants, retailers, and businesses, and includes the Boulder County Courthouse.
A total of eight people were injured in the attack. Six of them received medical attention at local hospitals, including two with serious burns who were flown to specialized burn treatment centers. The victims are aged 52 to 88, and they were part of a group that met weekly as part of the Run for Their Lives campaign to draw attention to hostages held by Hamas.
Authorities said Soliman admitted to the actions. Witnesses said he threw two incendiary devices, and authorities said they found 16 more unused devices. In addition, Soliman had a backpack weed sprayer apparatus containing gasoline, which he reportedly planned to use as a flamethrower.
Authorities said Soliman told them he had been planning the attack for a year. He donned an orange vest, the backpack sprayer, and had brought flowers he had bought at Home Depot to the scene, all in an attempt to disguise himself as a contract gardener working on the mall.
The Department of Homeland Security reported that Soliman is an Egyptian national who entered the United States in 2022 on a tourist visa, which has long since expired. He later applied for asylum, though his case had not been considered yet.
More is sure to come out about what the planning entailed and to uncover clues that might have signaled the attack. Authorities said that while the investigation continues, they have not found any evidence to suggest he had accomplices or was working as part of a larger network.
Scott Stewart from TorchStone Global wrote an article last year for Security Management on the emerging prevalence of acts of leaderless resistance. “They have been forced to adopt this operational model in response to effective government counterterrorism programs,” he wrote. “In recent years, when extremists have attempted to form groups to conduct terrorist activity… they have been quickly infiltrated and efficiently dismantled.”
“Now, nearly every successful terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11 has been conducted by a lone attacker or small cell operating under the rubric of leaderless resistance,” he continued. “Such incidents characteristically involve simple attacks directed against soft targets using readily available weapons such as firearms, crude bombs, edged weapons, and vehicles.”
He said that while lone-action attack planning can be difficult to uncover, he points out that these leaderless attacks often present their own vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to stopping an attack before it happens.
“Operating under the leaderless resistance operational model, lone assailants and small cells are even more exposed by the constraints and vulnerabilities created by the attack cycle,” he noted. ”They must conduct each step of the attack cycle by themselves. Potential assailants must expose themselves to detection at more points throughout the cycle than would a hierarchical terrorist group with many members or cells.”
Security has long studied how to protect businesses that find themselves in communities where mass protests are happening. It’s less common to consider the security needs of those protesting, but that was the subject of a Security Management feature last month. The article is likely directed at gatherings much larger than the two dozen protestors that typically marched in the weekly Boulder Run for Their Lives demonstration. To protect mass gatherings, the article points out, you should perform the due diligence threat assessment of understanding who might oppose your cause and studying the route or area of protest from a security perspective, as well as probably the most important element: opening a dialog with local law enforcement about safety and security for the event.
The founder of Run for Their Lives, Shany Klein, told NPR that safety was an important consideration since the organization started organizing the gatherings.
“Since the very beginning it was part of our onboarding,” she told NPR. “Please make the decision. Go where it's safe for you, and if you feel unsafe, don't walk.”
The attack comes less than two weeks since two Israeli Embassy workers were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. That incident sparked a round of stories noting increased security at Jewish institutions following it. Similarly, several stories highlight enhanced security following the Boulder attack. The fact is, anti-Semitic attacks rose sharply across the United States after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023 and Israel declared war and launched brutal counterattacks that ignited tensions throughout the region. Comparing September 2023 to December 2023, anti-Jewish hate crimes jumped 379 percent according to the FBI. Jewish institutions are doing everything they are able to do to increase security as Jewish Americans feel less and less safe. The Capital Jewish Museum had been notified it received a grant to pay for security-related enhancements shortly before the attack there.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer
Soliman will be facing both state and federal charges, including a federal charge of committing a hate crime and 42 state charges so far, the most serious of which are 16 counts of attempted murder in the first degree.
