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.

Mohammed Sabry Soliman’s lawyer argued that his alleged victims were targeted for their political views, not their ancestry.

Whether the man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at demonstrators in Boulder was motivated by the victims’ political views or by their perceived national origin took center stage in