Heinous attacks in Colorado and Washington DC show a new face of US political violence that’s closer to last year’s college campus radicalism than the Islamist extremism that has dominated terrorism in the last two decades, lawmen and experts told the Daily Mail.

Chris Swecker, an assistant FBI director in the 2000s, and others said the recent spate of outrages, often aimed at Israelis or Jews, marks a departure from the global wave of jihadist violence of the 9/11 era.

Recent strikes were instead inspired by the protests against Israel’s war in Gaza that upended Harvard, Columbia, and other top schools in the months after Hamas militants launched their 7 October, 2023, raids, Swecker said.

He spoke after an attacker tossed petrol bombs at supporters of Israeli hostage in Boulder, Colorado, and in the aftermath of a deadly shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC.

The suspects in those attacks both yelled ‘Free Palestine’ before they were arrested — echoing the chants from US college campuses and anti-Israel rallies in the months since fighting erupted there in October 2023.

Together with the arson attack on the residence of Pennsylvania’s Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, again over the Israel-Hamas war, they may showcase a paradigm shift in political violence in America.

Swecker says the men behind these attacks were likely answering the calls to ‘Free Palestine from the river to the sea,’ and for a ‘global intifada’ that rang out across US college campuses under the Biden administration.

‘The universities have become incubators and enablers,’ said Swecker, who led the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division from 2004-2006.

There’s straight line between Harvard University’s ‘Free Palestine’ rallies and the recent attacks on Jewish and Israeli-linked targets in the US, experts said

Mohamad Sabry Soliman, 45, was likely motivated by campus rabble-rousers when he allegedly lobbed petrol bombs at pro-Israeli demonstrators in Colorado, experts said 

‘They are creating an environment that seems to be activating people on the fringes. They hear this coded language of ‘Free Palestine,’ and they’re going to act on it.’

He added: ‘It’s not subtle, we know what it means. It means we’re going to kill Jews.’

America’s so-called ‘student intifada’ began in earnest at Columbia University last April and spread to some 60 campuses.

Students, egged on by radical professors and outside anti-Zionist groups, erected encampments and brought campuses to a standstill as the Gaza war escalated.

Some Jewish students described being attacked, harassed and intimidated.

Activists say there’s a disproportionate use of force in the decades-long territorial conflict.

Hamas fighters killed some 1,200 and took 251 hostages during their raids on southern Israel that began on October 7, 2024. A few dozen remain in Gaza.

In response Israel’s assault on Hamas-run Gaza has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, flattened whole towns, left the population starving and sparked allegations of war crimes. Estimates of the actual death toll vary widely. 

That logic appears to have motivated Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, the married Egyptian dad-of-five accused of the Boulder attack.

Police say he lobbed Molotov cocktails and used a homemade flamethrower to burn attendees of a Jewish demonstration in support of those taken hostage by Hamas, injuring a dozen.

On Thursday he was formally hit with 118 charges including attempted murder, illegal use of incendiary devices, assault and cruelty to animals, with victims ranging in age from 25 to 88, as well as a dog.

One of the victims was a Holocaust survivor. 

New York City Police Department arrest pro-Palestine demonstrators at a march in May 2024

Elias Rodriguez, the suspected shooter of an Israeli couple, had a record as a social justice warrior

Rodriguez is believed to be responsible for the murder of Sarah Milgrim, 26, and her boyfriend Yaron Lischinsky, 28

He reportedly yelled ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘end Zionists’ during the attack.

Still, he has not professed a link to ISIS or another jihadist group, and yelled political, not religious slogans, such as the ‘Allahu Akbar’ often associated with Islamists.

Soliman faces federal hate crime and state counts of attempted murder that could see him caged for life. His wife and children, dependents on his visa, face deportation.

There are similarities to Elias Rodriguez, the college-educated Chicago man accused of shooting and killing two Israeli Embassy workers outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC on May 21.

Rodriguez likewise shouted ‘Free Palestine,’ and also held a red keffiyeh during the attack, it is claimed.

His Latino, rather than Muslim, heritage, and long track record as a social justice warrior point to a political motivation.

The 31-year-old was in the past aligned to the anti-war Answer Coalition, and the ultra-progressive Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) — groups that led pro-Palestine rallies across the US, including on college campuses.

He faces two counts of first-degree murder over the deaths of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky.

The diplomatic workers were a couple; Lischinsky had bought a ring and was set to propose marriage to Milgrim on a trip to Jerusalem the following week.

The trend may also encompass Cody Balmer, the man accused of setting Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro’s residence ablaze in Harrisburg in April.

The residence of Pennsylvania Gov Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, was set ablaze in April, in another attack understood to be politically motivated  

Cody Balmer, 38, has been charged with the attack on Shapiro’s residence, and allegedly wrote about the governor’s ‘plans’ to harm Palestinians 

Chris Swecker, the assistant director who led the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division in the 2000s, says US ‘universities have become incubators and enablers’ of violence

The 38-year-old is charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism, and related offenses.

Balmer wrote extensively about Israel’s war in Gaza before the attack and reportedly described Shapiro as a ‘monster’ who had ‘plans’ to harm Palestinians.

Balmer also has a track record of minor crimes, mental illness, and marital strife.

Julio Rosas, author of Fiery But Mostly Peaceful, a study on far-left activism, said recent attacks show how radical groups are ‘elevating their tactics’ to stop Israel’s 19-month-old assault on Gaza.

Activist leaders regularly urge rally attendees to ‘bring the war home to the United States’ — language that he says barely disguises a blatant call for violence.

‘They’ve been protesting and marching, but the war in Gaza hasn’t stopped, so they have to do more radical things to get what they want,’ Rosas said.

He blamed Answer, PSL, and the Democratic Socialists of America, which have staged protests both on and off college campuses, and which all describe themselves as non-violent movements.

Those pro-Palestine campaign leaders ‘overlap’ with those who once coordinated Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and other far-left causes of recent years, he said.

‘Whether it’s Gaza, immigration, or George Floyd, the grievances they hyperventilate about are all the same,’ he added.

The Trump administration has cracked down on Columbia University and other US colleges that are accused of doing too little to stop antisemitism 

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, flattened whole towns, and left the population starving, leading to allegations of war crimes

‘It’s white supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, capitalism.’

Ian Miles Cheong, a social commentator and influencer, blames police, politicians and academics for keeping their ‘hands off’ the rabble rousers who’ve pushed their followers toward violence.

‘Too few college administrations are willing to speak out against them because they’re afraid of being canceled,’ Cheong said.

He, Rosas, and other conservatives praise the Trump administration for cracking down on campus activism, restricting visas for foreign students, and other steps to stop dangerous immigrants from entering the US.

‘Protest is fine, but there’s nothing peaceful about harassing Jewish students or blockading classrooms and libraries,’ said Cheong.