An anti-Israel radical who allegedly placed a “homemade incendiary device” in the Boston Common is a member of a new extremist group that has pledged support for Hamas, according to a police report obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Jermaiah Yusuf Sawaqed, 25, was arrested Thursday after an investigation by several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Massachusetts State Police, identified him as the vandal who painted anti-Israel messages on the Massachusetts State House, a George Washington statue, and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research lab. The graffiti included a Hamas triangle, “Death to the IOF,” and “DAMPL.”
DAMPL, or Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation, is an anti-Semitic group that formed in the spring and frequently spreads “violent rhetoric, such as ‘Intifada until liberation’ and ‘Palestine or we scorch the earth,’ while expressing support for Hamas and other designated terrorist organizations,” according to the police report. Its “messaging explicitly rejects peaceful protest, instead endorsing violent resistance and sabotage, and has raised significant public safety concerns.”
The group also took credit for each of the incidents Sawaqed is accused of perpetrating. “These actions have involved graffiti, paint and feces splatter, as well as the deployment of incendiary devices,” the police report said.
Sawaqed was charged Monday with vandalism and destruction of property, vandalizing a war or veterans memorial, and possession, transportation, or use of a hoax device or substance. It’s unclear why prosecutors classified the explosive as a hoax device. His bail was set at $30,000 and he may face additional charges.
The arrest and the formation of a new anti-Israel extremist group comes as anti-Semitic violence heats up across the country. In May, Elias Rodriguez shot and killed two Israeli embassy staffers at point-blank range, yelling “Free, free Palestine,” for which he is facing the death penalty. Less than two weeks later, an Egyptian national threw Molotov cocktails at a Boulder, Colo., group supporting Israelis held hostage by Hamas, killing an 82-year-old Jewish woman.
In May, the New York City Police Department relayed a social media post it received from the Toronto Police Service to the Boston Regional Intelligence Center. The post included a video of a masked man, who police later identified as Sawaqed. As he stood in front of a poster of Ghassan Kanafani, a leading member of the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Sawaqed spoke for nearly six minutes calling for “sabotage and obstruction targeting government buildings and corporate logistics networks,” the police report said.
Over the following months, Sawaqed went on a vandalism spree, police said. In June, he allegedly defaced the George Washington Statue with white paint splashes and used red spray paint to draw the upside-down triangle Hamas uses to mark targets and “DAMPL Global.” Police also said he spraypainted “Death to the IOF” on the MIT Stata Center’s door.
On July 23, a park ranger spotted a vandal—later identified as Sawaqed—defacing the Massachusetts State House, writing either “Divest” or “Divert.” As the ranger approached, Sawaqed fled through the Boston Common, leaving white footprints. Surveillance footage showed him leaving in a Subaru associated with Sawaqed.
According to the police report, “The area was already under heightened scrutiny due to an ongoing Boston Police investigation into DAMPL-related extremist activity.”
A state police officer retraced the footprints and found two “homemade improvised explosive devices (IEDs) constructed from toilet paper roll cores with attached fuses.” Further examination found they likely contain black powder and, based on their composition, were deemed “incendiary devices.”
Later that afternoon, DAMPL posted an Instagram video taking responsibility for the vandalism. It included a caption, “This morning, the Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation targeted the Massachusetts State House with paint mixed with feces and lit homemade flars [sic] on its gates.”
Police searched Sawaqed’s home and the Subaru on Aug. 5 and “seized electronic devices used to create and disseminate DAMPL’s extremist content, along with multiple flyers, anti-Israel propaganda, two gasoline cans, and a commercial- grade firework modified to resemble the same incendiary devices recovered from the Boston Common on July 23, 2025.” They also found a “poster used in the MIT defacement” and a sandal with white paint on it.
Sawaqed’s mother, Naila Dahabrah, who answered the door when police knocked, spat in the face of a detective serving the search warrant. She was arrested for assault and battery on a police officer.
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