Colleen Slevin.

A man accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at a group of people demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 hate crime counts. He was initially charged with only one hate crime count in federal court. Tuesday’s indictment accuses Soliman of trying to kill eight people who were hurt by the Molotov cocktails and targeting them because of their perceived or actual national origin, which prosecutors say was their perceived connection and support for Israel. He was also indicted for another hate crime for trying to kill the others at the event who were not injured, as well as three explosives charges.

A federal judge said Wednesday that prosecutors can proceed with a hate crime charge against a man accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at a group of people demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages. Mohamed Sabry Soliman appeared in federal court in Denver for a preliminary hearing following the June 1 attack in Boulder that injured at least eight people. Investigators say he planned the attack for a year and was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people.” Prosecutors allege Soliman targeted people based on their national origin — their perceived connection to Israel. Soliman’s attorney argued that it wasn’t a hate crime because the evidence shows he was motivated by the demonstrators’ perceived political support for Israel.