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California man arrested for four anti-Israel arson attacks at UC Berkeley

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An anti-Israel activist was arrested for his involvement in four arson attacks and arson attacks at the University of California, Berkeley, the State Fire Marshal’s Office and anti-Israel groups said Tuesday.

Oakland resident Casey Robert Goonan was arrested Monday after the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Fire and Bomb Unit, the University of Berkeley Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI began investigating the four attacks.

According to UCPD, a fire was set at the Dwinelle Annex construction site on Sunday. An anonymous Sunday bulletin from the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center, which claimed involvement in the arsons, said building materials, wooden pallets and dry brush were set ablaze.

According to UCPD and another anonymous manifesto, a firebomb was thrown at a campus building, Koshland Hall, last Thursday. The anonymous statement said the fire spread to trees and bushes adjacent to the building.

The UCPD said that early on the morning of June 1, a dark-clothed man set fire to a UCPD vehicle. Later that same day, an arson incident occurred near the Starr East Asian Library when a man set fire to a patch of dry grass. Sunday’s anti-Israel statement described the latter incident as “experimental.”

Students take part in a protest camp in support of Palestinians on the campus of Columbia University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in New York City, U.S., April 28, 2024. (Source: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)

Goonan is being held in the Alameda County Jail on $1 million bail and is accused of several crimes, including “possession and use of explosive devices and multiple counts of arson.”

Arrested during a raid on several houses

Escalate Network claimed on social media that Goonan was arrested in a raid on several homes and said it supported his actions and would organize a fundraiser for him in the coming days.

“These measures are logical. The commitment of those who took them is just. Even if the person arrested is innocent, the entire Palestinian solidarity movement should support them as if they had taken truly brave and heroic actions to save millions of lives,” Escalate Network said on Tuesday. “We will defend those who fight!”

The anonymous Sunday letter described the arsons as part of Operation Camps Flood – referring to the October 7 Hamas massacre as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood – and as revenge against California universities and the UCPD for their crackdown on anti-Israel camps and protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

“Phase two of the escalation movement heated up at UC Berkeley when a construction site was set on fire in broad daylight,” the manifesto said. “This was done in retaliation for the UCPD’s violent attacks on defenseless student protesters and to punish the University of California (sic) system for supporting the genocidal Zionist-Israeli entity. This was an autonomous initiative in line with the currently ongoing week of action: Operation Campus Flood.”

On June 10, 27 students were arrested at UCLA as they attempted to re-establish an anti-Israel protest encampment on three occasions, vandalizing the campus and disrupting exams. At least six UCPD officers were injured and a security guard suffered a bleeding wound after being struck in the head. A UCLA Chabad rabbi was attacked, threatened, and subjected to anti-Semitic abuse. The Palestine Solidarity Encampment claimed that police used rubber bullets and harsh physical measures against student activists.

UCSC Chancellor Cynthia Larive said in a June 4 statement that over 100 activists were arrested on her campus on May 31 after ignoring multiple warnings. 20,000 pounds of barricade material was removed from school grounds. UCSC Students for Justice on Palestine said on June 10 that the arrested students and faculty were banned from campus and evicted from dormitories. The activists claimed they suffered severe concussions, wrist injuries and bruises after clashes with police.



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