With attacks in Washington and Colorado, the global intifada lands in America

After a shooter murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, last month, local Jews described the killings as shocking, but not surprising.

“It was just a matter of time,” Jim Rose, a Jewish resident of the area, said at the scene of the killings, standing next to bouquets and handwritten notes left for the victims.

The attack still felt like a turning point, though — the first time since the start of the war that a member of the anti-Israel movement in the US that has long demanded a “global intifada” carried out an act of deadly, deliberate violence. That feeling was solidified on Sunday with the firebomb attack on pro-hostage protesters in Boulder, Colorado, less than two weeks after the Washington shootings.

Despite the shock of the attacks, the trajectory of the anti-Israel movement has indicated a trend toward violence from the start.

Security officials, including Jewish community leaders, have warned against drawing early conclusions about the attackers, pending investigations. The anti-Israel animus held by the assailants is clear, though. Both shouted “Free Palestine” after the attacks, according to law enforcement, and justified the violence with statements about the Middle East conflict afterward.

The incidents came after a string of attempted attacks against American Jews.

The most salient recent example was an arson attack against Jewish Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro in April. The suspect in that attack also cited the war in Gaza as his inspiration.

Other recent thwarted attacks include a suspect arrested in New Jersey after threatening to kill Jews at a New York synagogue; an armed man in Florida who planned an attack on AIPAC; a suspect who planned a mass casualty attack against the Israeli consulate in New York, a man planning to attack a Jewish center in Brooklyn; and a neo-Nazi planning to poison Jewish children in New York.

The last spate of deadly violence against Jews in the US started in 2018 with the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh that killed 11 worshipers. It was followed by antisemitic murders in Poway, California; Jersey City, New Jersey; and Monsey, New York.

Those attacks were carried out by assailants with differing ideologies. The Tree of Life and Poway shooters were white supremacist conspiracists, the Jersey City shooting was motivated by Black Hebrew Israelite ideology, and the Monsey stabber was a mentally ill man with an interest in Nazism.

The recent attacks appear to be an outgrowth of the widespread anti-Israel sentiment since the start of the war. When the Washington attacker, Elias Rodriguez, was arrested, he chanted, “Free, free Palestine,” in the cadence used during anti-Israel street protests. After that attack, Jewish security officials said the far-right remains a potent threat.

The Colorado and Washington attacks have other similarities. They were both spectacularly violent. Rodriguez allegedly shot his victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, in the back at close range. He kept firing into Milgrim as she attempted to crawl away from him. The Colorado suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, hurled two Molotov cocktails into a crowd that included the elderly and children, igniting an 88-year-old and her husband.

“I saw flames all over her, from top to bottom,” a witness said.

Both suspects shouted “Free Palestine” at the scene of the attack, stayed at the site, and justified the violence in statements to law enforcement afterward. The Colorado attacker told the FBI he firebombed the demonstrators because “Zionists” were “taking over our land” in Palestine, and Rodriguez said, “I did it for Gaza.” They both traveled hours from their homes to carry out the attacks, and there have been no indications yet that they had any help, though investigations are ongoing.

A prominent anti-Israel activist in New York made clear last month that even calls to “Free Palestine,” for some, means the eradication of the Jewish state. The activist screamed at mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, “Don’t be hypocritical and say ‘Free Palestine’ when you’re also defending the right for Israel to exist.”

Some in the pro-Palestinian movement undoubtedly oppose the violence and want peace and prosperity for Jews and Arabs, and have condemned the recent attacks. The mainstream of the protest movement, though, has advocated a “by any means necessary” approach, including violence.

Immediately after the October 7 attack, National Students for Justice in Palestine released a “Day of Resistance toolkit” that celebrated the invasion and demanded a “unity intifada” to “normalize the resistance.”

“We must continue to resist directly through dismantling Zionism,” the toolkit said.

Within Our Lifetime, the leading anti-Israel protest group in New York, on October 7 called to “support Palestinian resistance in all its forms. By any means necessary. With no exceptions.”

The group has since called to target “Zionist” organizations and to “take peace” away from its opponents. The group regularly calls for an intifada and the destruction of Israel, including before October 7. Activists affiliated with the group discussed attacking pro-Israel protesters with Molotov cocktails in 2021.

Leaders of the Council on Islamic Relations have justified the Hamas attack, including by saying they were “happy to see people breaking the siege.”

The day after the Hamas invasion, hundreds gathered in Times Square to celebrate.

Since then, protesters wearing pro-Hamas apparel at public New York City universities have called to “bring the war home” at demonstrations targeting Jewish student group Hillel.

At Columbia University, activists said “violence is the only path” while covering for a student protester who said, “Zionists don’t deserve to live.” One protester held a sign pointing to Jewish students that said, “Al-Qasam’s next targets,” referring to Hamas’s armed wing, and others posted graphics of Molotov cocktails.

The protest movement is awash in inverted red triangles, a symbol taken straight from Hamas propaganda videos used to denote targets of deadly violence, and vandals often splash red paint reminiscent of blood on homes and businesses. Last month, a man from Colorado attempted to firebomb the US embassy branch in Tel Aviv with Molotov cocktails.

Since the attacks in Washington and Colorado, some activist elements have praised the violence. Jewish security officials have been monitoring chatter in support of the attack online, including calls for more attacks. A faction of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America shared a statement supporting the Washington shooting and “consequences” for the group’s opponents “in the heart of the US.”

“As imperialism has made the entire world its battlefield, it is justified to fight it, by any means necessary, without regard for geography,” the statement said.

The extremist activist group Unity of Fields, formerly Palestine Action US, posted a call for “people’s war” and “armed struggle” shortly before the attack in Colorado, then released the US home addresses of Elbit employees, an Israeli defense company.

After the attack, the group doubled down with a statement in support of Rodriguez.

“Counter-violence is legitimate. It is justice,” the statement said, closing with a call to “Globalize the intifada.”

For most of the war the rhetoric was frightening, but it remained a warning of potential violence, a fist raised in threat. Now that it is being transformed into violence itself, the fear is that these protest movements will be fertile ground for further attacks. After the Washington shootings, Jewish security officials said their primary concern was that it would inspire copycats.

“We’ve seen it time and time again where one attack was replicated somewhere else,” said Richard Priem, the CEO of the Community Security Service, a group that trains volunteer synagogue guards.

“We cannot rely on others to protect ourselves,” he said. “Vulnerabilities will be exploited, so let’s not wait until the next one.”

“You could just see it building, just with the rhetoric and what is allowed in protests,” said Rose, the Washington mourner, at the site of the attack. “I’m just frustrated that more wasn’t done to prevent this.”