First arrest in connection with an attack on a UCLA night camp

We have our first arrest related to the April 30 vigilante attacks on the UCLA camp in Gaza. In a way, this shows how slow and gradual this process has been. The arrested man is an 18-year-old high school student named Edan On. He appears to be either Israeli or of Israeli-American descent. I base this partly on his name, but more so on the fact that his identity was originally partially revealed when his mother bragged on Facebook in Hebrew about his role in the attack. (Many American Jews know a little Hebrew, or even a great deal of Hebrew. But they don’t tend to use it as an everyday language for social media posts unless they are from Israel or have a family background in Israel.)

On’s role was first hinted at by cyber sleuths examining social media — similar to what we saw after January 6. His identity was first confirmed by CNN in a detailed, in-depth analysis of social media and video evidence published on May 16. In important ways, the way On’s identity was uncovered shows how complicated it will be to find the perpetrators through this type of social media analysis. As the CNN article makes clear, On’s identification was largely based on the fact that he took off his mask at a key point and someone took video of him at that moment.

Not everyone makes this mistake. And not everyone is unlucky enough to get in the way of someone who is recording a video.

On, who attacked protesters in the camp with a long white pole, was charged with suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.