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........

© The Times of Israel