Boulder firebombing suspect appears in federal court
The latest: Magistrate Judge Timothy P. O'Hara advised the suspect of the hate crime charge he faces and the possibility of a life sentence, court records show.
The hearing lasted just 7 minutes, per court records.
The right side of the suspect's face appeared to be burned, the Colorado Sun reports.
The big picture: The Friday hearing comes one day after the suspect was charged in Colorado state court with 118 counts, including 28 counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman also faces multiple counts related to the use and attempted use of an explosive/incendiary device.
The 45-year-old suspect has been held at the Boulder County Jail on a $10 million cash bond since his arrest after Sunday's attack.
Zoom in: The attack near the Boulder County courthouse on the city's popular Pearl Street injured at least 15 people and a dog, according to the Boulder County District Attorney's Office.
All of the victims — ages 25 to 88 — are expected to survive, Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn told the Daily Camera on Tuesday.
Catch up quick: Last Sunday, Soliman threw Molotov cocktails at people advocating for the release of hostages held by Hamas, according to an affidavit reviewed by Axios.
The suspect allegedly told law enforcement he wanted to kill all Zionist people and that he had been planning the attack for a year.
Run for Their Lives, the group targeted in the attack, gathered in support of the hostages "to show solidarity with the hostages and their families, and a plea for their release."
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Boston Globe
7 hours ago
- Boston Globe
At MIT, a new initiative is ‘the opposite of an academic boycott' against Israel
Kalaniyot, a faculty-led program that aims to strengthen US ties with Israeli researchers from diverse backgrounds while building more supportive campus communities, is 'the opposite of an academic boycott,' said associate professor of physics Or Hen, who co-founded the organization last year. Advertisement Or Hen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology associate professor of physics, co-founded Kalaniyot. He poses for a portrait inside an MIT classroom on July 25. Ben Pennington/for The Boston Globe Since then, MIT-Kalaniyot has inspired The MIT model serves as a 'cookbook,' said co-founder Ernest Fraenkel, Grover M. Hermann Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering. The main recipe: 'Get together a faculty board, make sure they're diverse, and stay out of politics.' Of course, it's hard to avoid politics when talking about Israel. And while Kalaniyot positions itself as a Advertisement The timing is 'no coincidence,' says Maya Wind, the Jewish-Israeli author of ' 'To really understand Kalaniyot,' said Wind, 'you must see it within the broader ecosystem of efforts by the Israeli state, Israeli universities, and Zionist faculty and organizations here in this country that have for decades been promoting these collaborations precisely to counter the growing popularity of the student-led movement for Palestinian liberation.' FILE - The hand of an MIT student with the phrase "MIT DIVEST" written on their palm as protesters walk across the Harvard Bridge, May 2024. Kayla Bartkowski For The Boston Globe Kalaniyot's very existence defies the BDS movement, and three MIT Corporation members, including chair Mark Gorenberg, have made independent contributions to the MIT chapter. Meanwhile, Hen, who grew up on a chicken farm near Jerusalem, estimates 3 percent of faculty are Israeli at MIT, where recent incidents have targeted Israelis, as well as a professor who did MIT-Kalaniyot is now welcoming its a society they believe is misunderstood. Named for the crimson flower that blooms in southern Israel after winter, Kalaniyot invites graduates and faculty of Israel's nine state-recognized universities to apply for the opportunity to collaborate and train at top American schools. A pedestrian passes Harvard Medical School in Boston April 17. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff 'Maybe it's a naive view, but we really think science is a tool to bring humanity together,' said Naama Kanarek, a Harvard Medical School assistant professor of pathology and faculty leader of the HMS branch of the Kalaniyot chapter at Harvard. Advertisement She and co-chair Mark Poznansky, a professor of medicine, pointed to scientific breakthroughs made by Israelis, from water desalination to treatments for multiple sclerosis and emergency trauma. Plenty of scientists from 'political hotspots' have come together at Harvard with an apolitical mission, Poznansky said. 'It would be a shame — and wrong — to deny any scientists their ability to contribute to improving the lot of humankind because of the political system they live under.' Shai Zilberzwige-Tal was a combat paramedic with the Israel Defense Forces long before she started studying bacterial immune systems at the Broad Institute. She was here when Hamas attacked Israel 'I had, for a few months, an identity crisis,' said the mother of two. 'I even felt ashamed of being Israeli, and then found myself ashamed for feeling that way.' Around this time, Hen and other Israeli faculty invited her to a weekly lunch for Jewish people on campus where 'we could just be,' she said. Those lunches grew into MIT-Kalaniyot. Zilberzwige-Tal is now an honorary postdoc fellow. Hen and Fraenkel seeded the idea for the program in response to the alienation they saw among many Israelis and Jewish Americans on campus in the wake of the war. Three separate photos — taken in sequence, and then placed side by side — of the Nova music festival massacre site in Israel. Daniel Jackson In spring 2024 they traveled to Israel with colleagues to visit the Nova music festival massacre site and hear from Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Druze affected by the conflict. Advertisement In addition to meeting with the heads of Israeli universities, they also spoke with Palestinian academics and administrators, said MIT computer science professor Daniel Jackson, who documented the trip in photographs. The group returned to Cambridge with the need to do something 'proactive,' said Fraenkel. Professor Ernest Fraenkel in conversation with Mansour Abbas, member of Knesset and leader of the United Arab List. Daniel Jackson Other stakeholders are now doubling down on their commitment to US-Israel academic collaborations amid the Trump administration's pressure campaign against elite universities over antisemitism allegations. Looking out over Haifa from the University of Haifa in Israel. Daniel Jackson Columbia's chapter complements pre-existing programs with Israel, said its faculty chair, Jacob Fish. But following the school's While each chapter does its own fundraising, the Kalaniyot Foundation matches donations. So far, they've raised over $15 million altogether, including pledges. MIT Corporation member Eran Broshy, who is from Israel and grew up in Vienna, said he considers himself 'a very strong Zionist' and saw MIT-Kalaniyot as 'a fantastic opportunity' to counter anti-Israel bias and boycotts. 'I happen to be supporting this particular initiative because it aligns with my values and my background,' but not at the exclusion of any other group, he added. The Advertisement They had been aiming to bring five scholars from Palestine in September, but 'three of them are in Gaza,' and getting out has been difficult, said Haynes Miller, a mathematics professor emeritus who's on the board of advisers. He's hopeful the other two, in the West Bank, will make it. Still, he said, there's a 'dramatic asymmetry' between the experiences of Palestinian and Israeli scholars who've been invited to MIT. MIT-Kalaniyot postdoctoral fellow Sapir Bitton. Sapir Bitton Sapir Bitton, an MIT-Kalaniyot postdoc fellow in electrical engineering and computer science, moved to Cambridge six months ago. She lives a short bus ride away from campus, her 2-year-old son goes to daycare near her apartment, and she said she feels lucky, despite some challenges. Bitton said she's met people at MIT who stopped speaking to her when they learned she was Israeli, and she's a little self-conscious about her 'really bad English.' Even so, 'it's difficult not to speak about Israel,' she said, 'if people ask me about it.' Brooke Hauser can be reached at
Politico
8 hours ago
- Politico
Moderate Democrats change their tone on Israel
Hardline Israel supporter Sen. John Fetterman said Thursday he viewed the resolutions – which he opposed – as his fellow Democrats blaming Israel for the circumstances, while he blamed on Hamas and Iran. 'And that explains my vote, and my ongoing support. And that's not going to change,' he said. The Pennsylvania Democrat said he's seen the photos of starving children circulating online, but that, 'no one ever declared that it was an actual famine, to be clear.' Some former Biden administration officials argue Netanyahu's actions, rather than the political winds, are driving this change. They blame Netanyahu for hurting Israel's credibility with Democrats in the United States given his aggressive military action. Former President Joe Biden, a self-described Zionist, repeatedly called for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, but didn't heed calls from the left for an arms embargo. 'Yes, the political incentives for Democrats are shifting, but even more powerful for many Democrats is the recognition that a blank check approach to Israel, especially with this Israeli government, is fundamentally in contravention to our interests and values,' said Ned Price, who served as State Department spokesperson and deputy to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations during the Biden administration. 'Bibi's prosecution of this war has, I think, made this shift in many ways irreversible.' A former Biden administration official, granted anonymity to speak freely about the political stakes, said a majority of Democratic senators voting to block weapons sales to Israel was unimaginable 'even a few months ago' and speaks to 'how badly Netanyahu has played this.' But the official cautioned this crisis is not as politically charged as was the Iraq War for many Democratic voters. A Gallup poll released this week found approval of Israel's military actions in Gaza had dropped to 8 percent among Democrats, the lowest rating to date. In contrast, 71 percent of Republicans said they approve of Israel's military force in Gaza, up from 66 percent in September. Changing public opinion on Gaza is most striking in New York, where Democratic primary voters nominated Zohran Mamdani for mayor despite millions of dollars spent attacking him for his anti-Israel posture in a heavily Jewish city. A vast majority believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Torres noted that 'if there is an erosion of support for Israel in the United States, that's not something the Israeli government should take lightly.' Chris Coffey, a New York-based consultant and longtime Torres ally said the deepening split between the left and moderate factions of the Democratic party can be attributed to images of starving children, and criticism of Israel's military action 'was a minority view now feels like the majority view in the Democratic party.' 'When (people like) Richie Torres, who is arguably the most pro-Israel Democrat in the country and certainly in New York, are asking tough questions then it's going to cause there to be some reflection and some ripples,' he said. 'It's going to force people to ask tough questions.' Eric Bazail-Eimil and Joe Gould contributed reporting.
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Mob of anti-Israel protestors clash with police after attempting to storm Grand Central Terminal: cops
Anti-Israel protesters clashed with police outside Grand Central Terminal Saturday — resulting in four arrests, cops and sources said. The chaos erupted around 3:30 p.m. when hundreds of demonstrators that had been marching in Manhattan attempted to storm the transit hub's doors, forcing officials to lock and barricade the iconic building. The unruly crowd was part of a protest organized by Palestinian activist group Within Our Lifetime that started outside City Hall earlier in the afternoon, according to police. Advertisement The group, waving Palestinian flags and chanting, scuffled with NYPD and MTA officers outside the station's Vanderbilt Hall entrance, according to cops and shocking videos on social media. One video of the melee showed protesters hurling profanities at a female officer before a group of cops tackled an agitator, while others formed a barrier to keep the hostile group from entering the terminal. 4 NYPD and MTA police officers confronting Palestine protestors at Grand Central Station. Some cops were seen using batons to fend off the protestors. Advertisement 4 NYPD officers detaining Palestine protestors at Grand Central Terminal. 4 Some cops were seen using batons to fend off the protestors. A handful of the rowdy flag-waving demonstrators, shouting 'Free Palestine' and banging on drums, made it into the main concourse, but were removed by authorities, a video shared by WOL showed. Advertisement None of the arrested protesters were publicly identified by cops. Two of them were arrested by the NYPD, charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct and issued Criminal Court summonses, a police spokesperson said. 4 Footage of a scuffle between NYPD officers and Palestine protestors at Grand Central Terminal. MTA officers took two other demonstrators into custody, but no details about what charges may be facing were immediately made public. Advertisement Train service didn't seem to have been disrupted after the wild skirmish. A heavy police presence remained hours later, blocking off the area where the tussle erupted.
