If you thought Hamas was only a threat overseas, think again. A 25-year-old man tied to a brand-new pro-Hamas extremist group has been arrested after allegedly planting homemade incendiary devices in Boston Common — one of the busiest tourist hubs in the city — in what police are calling an alarming escalation of anti-Israel violence right here in the United States.
Jermaiah Yusuf Sawaqed isn’t some lone vandal with a spray can. According to a police report obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, he’s a member of the Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation (DAMPL) — a freshly formed extremist outfit that openly supports Hamas, glorifies violent “intifada,” and explicitly rejects peaceful protest. Their own social media brags about targeting “government buildings and corporate logistics networks” and promises to “scorch the earth” for Palestine.
On July 23, after allegedly defacing the Massachusetts State House with anti-Israel graffiti mixed with feces, Sawaqed fled through Boston Common and — according to investigators — left behind two homemade IEDs built from toilet paper roll cores packed with black powder and fuses. Police say these were not simple hoaxes, but actual incendiary devices designed to ignite. The area was evacuated, and bomb squads moved in.
This wasn’t his first strike. Sawaqed is accused of a vandalism spree that included defacing a George Washington statue, spray-painting “Death to the IOF” (Israel Defense Forces), and marking buildings with Hamas’ signature upside-down triangle — the same symbol the terrorist group uses to mark targets. One attack hit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Stata Center. Another targeted a veterans memorial. DAMPL claimed responsibility for each incident, boasting about “deployment of incendiary devices” in their posts.
When police searched his home earlier this month, they say they found exactly what you’d expect from someone gearing up for more trouble: two gas cans, modified fireworks matching the Boston Common devices, anti-Israel propaganda, DAMPL flyers, and electronic devices used to create extremist content. They also recovered a sandal with white paint matching that found at the State House crime scene.
The brazenness of this case is chilling enough — but it’s part of a growing pattern.
- May 2025: Elias Rodriguez allegedly shot and killed two Israeli embassy staffers at point-blank range while yelling “Free, free Palestine.” He now faces the death penalty.
- Late May 2025: An Egyptian national allegedly hurled Molotov cocktails at a pro-Israel gathering in Boulder, Colorado, killing an 82-year-old Jewish woman.
That’s not “over there.” That’s here. That’s our streets. That’s our people.
And Sawaqed’s radicalization wasn’t subtle. In a video flagged by Toronto Police and shared with Boston authorities earlier this year, he appears masked, standing in front of a poster of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ghassan Kanafani — a terrorist icon — calling for “sabotage and obstruction” of U.S. government operations.
Even Sawaqed’s family wasn’t shy about hostility toward law enforcement. When officers arrived to search his residence, his mother allegedly spit in a detective’s face, earning her an assault charge.
The reality is unavoidable: we’re not just dealing with isolated acts of vandalism or “political protest.” Hamas-aligned ideology is here, it’s organized, and it’s willing to plant bombs in public spaces. Groups like DAMPL aren’t hiding their intentions — they’re broadcasting them on Instagram. The only reason this didn’t end with lives lost is because authorities got there in time.
The question is how many others are out there, already radicalized, already plotting, and already looking for a soft target in your city.