According to an affidavit from the US Department of Justice, a Colorado man has been charged with a federal hate crime for his alleged involvement in an attack on a pro-Israeli rally in Boulder that left eight people injured.
After the Boulder attack on Sunday that targeted a group that wanted to raise awareness of hostages held in Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel, Mohamed Sabry Soliman was already facing a number of state charges, including attempted murder.
The suspect, according to US Attorney General Pam Bondi, will be held legally accountable for what is referred to as an “antisemitic terror attack.”
Soliman, 45, claimed in the affidavit that he had been planning the attack for more than a year. Near the suspect’s detention location, investigators discovered 14 Molotov cocktails fueled by gasoline or gasoline.
A weed sprayer filled with gasoline was also discovered at the scene along with a petrol canister in his nearby car. According to Oliman, he claimed to have learned how to create firebombs from YouTube.
The affidavit makes reference to a video that Soliman was seen holding what appeared to be Molotov cocktails while he was a victim of the attack on social media during which he was “shirtless, pacing back and forth.”
According to official records, the suspect told police he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead” while being held in lieu of $10 million bail.
The violent outburst at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, a four-block stretch of Boulder, came as a result of Israel’s ongoing conflict with Gaza, which has heightened anti-Semitic violence in the country.
Just one week after a man who also yelled “Free Palestine” was accused of fatally shooting two Israeli embassy employees outside a Jewish museum in Washington, the attack took place at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which is observed with the reading of the Torah.
“Millions of people like this,” said one.
In Colorado Springs, a city that is 100 miles south of Boulder, Soliman and his wife and their five children reside, according to the complaint. According to the affidavit, he said he planned to start the attack after his daughter graduated.
Few more details about him were made available.
Soliman had an expired work permit and a long-overstayed tourist visa, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons.
Federal documents, which mention the Department of Homeland Security, did not mention his nationality, but the New York Times reported that he was Egyptian.
The Departments of Homeland Security and Justice did not respond to requests for comment. The FBI’s Denver office, which is in charge of the case, did not respond to emails or phone calls seeking more information right away.
The County Sheriff’s Office, Boulder County Jail,  , Boulder County Jail,  , Boulder County, Police andnbsp, Boulder County, and other agencies did not immediately respond to inquiries.
At a press conference in Boston, Lyons stated that there are millions of people like this who were allowed into the previous administration because they weren’t properly screened. That’s a significant effort, in my opinion, right now.
Under former US President Joe Biden, ICE placed a high priority on arrests of serious criminals and demanded that officers take humanitarian considerations into account when making arrests.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson previously stated Soliman had entered the country in August 2022 and had applied for asylum the following month. Lyons declined to provide additional information. The spokesperson claimed that the suspect, Mohamed Soliman, is not authorized to reside in our nation.
Biden received criticism for the incident from President Donald Trump.
Trump referred to the horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado as a “terrible tragedy” and declared that it “Won’t be tolerated in the United States of America.”
Soliman entered the country on the grounds of “Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy.”
He wrote, “This is yet another illustration of why we must deport illegal, anti-American radicals from our country” and keep our borders safe.
According to Boulder police, four women and four men aged between 52 and 88 were taken to hospitals following the attack.
In conjunction with an event organized by Run for Their Lives, a group devoted to raising awareness of the hostages taken in the wake of Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel, the attack took place on the Pearl Street Mall, a well-known pedestrian shopping district close to the University of Colorado.
The 88-year-old victim was a Holocaust refugee who had fled Europe, according to Rabbi Yisroel Wilhelm, the Chabad director at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Source: Aljazeera
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