An anti-Israel activist was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison on Tuesday for a series of arson and firebombing attacks in California.
Casey Goonan, 35, pleaded guilty to the attacks around the University of California, Berkeley campus and in Oakland in June 2024.
Goonan torched a university police department car with six Molotov cocktails, attempted to firebomb a federal building and courthouse in Oakland, and ignited other fires on the Berkeley campus the same month.
The US Attorney’s Office for the federal Northern District of California said Goonan had acknowledged the “attacks were inspired by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.”
Goonan urged others to attack property on campuses in the area to support the Palestinians, and admitted the attacks were meant to influence the government and retaliate against the US and California state governments.
The court labeled Goonan a “domestic terrorist.”
He was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of maliciously damaging or destroying property used in or affecting interstate commerce by means of fire or an explosive.
In addition to his prison sentence, Goonan will be subject to 15 years of supervised release after his sentence ends and will have to pay more than $94,000.
Goonan was arrested shortly after the attacks and has been held in custody since.
The sentencing came amid increased fears over political violence and left-wing violence in the US, particularly following the killings of conservative leader Charlie Kirk and US health care executive Brian Thompson this year.
A series of attackers in the US have referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The shooter who killed two children in Minnesota last month posted videos that included antisemitic and anti-Israel messages; a gunman who killed a man at a New Hampshire wedding shooting this month shouted “Free Palestine” during the attack; an anti-Israel activist has been indicted for murdering two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, in May; and a June firebombing attack against hostage advocates in Colorado killed an elderly woman.
Those attacks followed a series of attempted terrorist attacks against Jewish targets in the US since the start of the Gaza war.
A survey this month found that liberals were more likely than other groups to say it was acceptable to celebrate the death of their opponents, especially younger liberals.
A separate poll this month found that 34% of college students said using violence to stop speech on campus was acceptable, at least in rare cases, a 10-point increase from four years ago.
An upcoming data study said that left-wing terrorism has increased since US President Donald Trump entered politics in 2016, and that this year is set to mark the first time in more than 30 years with more left-wing attacks than those from the far right.
Anti-Israel activist groups, including National Students for Justice in Palestine and Columbia University protesters, have rallied behind Goonan and others convicted of violent attacks.