A year after an elderly Jewish woman was burned alive on a Colorado sidewalk, Boulder is split between solemn candles for the victims and shocking praise for the terrorist who did it.
Story Snapshot
- A community memorial in Boulder honored 82-year-old victim Karen Diamond and dozens injured in the 2025 antisemitic firebombing.[1][4]
- The attacker, Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, targeted a Jewish-linked solidarity walk and is now serving life in prison without parole.[1][4]
- Students for Justice in Palestine activists publicly lauded the firebomber as “resistance,” exposing how campus radicalism is normalizing violence against Jews.[1][3]
- Federal prosecutors charged the attack as a hate-motivated terror crime, underscoring the threat of imported extremism and failed immigration vetting.[1][4]
A Terror Attack That Targeted Jews on an American Street
On June 1, 2025, the quiet Pearl Street Mall in Boulder became a crime scene when 45-year-old Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman attacked a peaceful pro-Israel solidarity walk with a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices.[1][4][7] Prosecutors and federal officials said the group, part of the global Run for Their Lives effort supporting hostages held by Hamas, was deliberately targeted because Soliman believed they were “Zionists.”[1][2][4] Witnesses reported he yelled pro-Palestinian slogans, including “Free Palestine,” as people were set on fire.[2][3][4]
The attack gravely injured dozens of participants, most of them middle-aged and elderly, with victim ages ranging from 25 to 88 years old.[4] An 82-year-old Colorado woman, later identified as Karen Diamond, succumbed to severe burns on June 25, turning an already horrifying assault into a murder case.[1][4] Authorities ultimately counted twenty-nine victims, including those physically wounded and others placed in clear mortal danger.[4] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) labeled the incident a targeted terror attack driven by ideological hatred.[2][4]
A Community of Faith Responds with Memorials, Not Revenge
One year later, Boulder’s Jewish community marked the anniversary not with rage, but with remembrance and resolve.[1][2] The city’s annual Boulder Jewish Festival opened with a commemoration ceremony featuring religious and civic leaders, who joined together to honor Karen Diamond’s memory in a candle-lighting observance at the Pearl Street site.[1][2][5][7] Organizers framed the event as both a tribute to the victims and a statement that Jewish life, faith, and public presence would not be driven from American streets by violent extremism.[2][5]
According to local reporting, the Boulder Jewish Community Center coordinated the memorial as part of a broader effort to support grieving families and restore a sense of safety after the attack.[2] Community voices emphasized that the Run for Their Lives walk had been a peaceful, weekly gathering calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, not a provocation or political stunt.[2][3] The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum echoed that framing nationally, condemning the firebombing as an antisemitic terror attack against Jews exercising basic freedoms.[3]
Vile Campus Praise for a Convicted Terrorist Stuns Boulder
Even as the city mourned, radical activists used the anniversary to glorify the man responsible. Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine posted a statement praising Soliman, who had recently pleaded guilty to 184 state charges and received life in prison without the possibility of parole plus centuries of additional time.[1][3][4] The group hailed his assault on unarmed seniors as “striking against the colonist procession,” language treating a Jewish solidarity walk as a legitimate military target rather than a civilian gathering.[1][3]
The “chutzpah” of those advocating for these heinous acts of terror must be silenced and held accountable.
An 82-year-old Holocaust survivor, Karen Diamond z”l — a woman who survived the fires of hell in Europe, who rebuilt her life in America seeking safety — was murdered by… pic.twitter.com/12U1rrPdgs
— Henshi (@HenshiG) June 7, 2026
Coverage by Combat Antisemitism and other outlets reported that the statement, later deleted, honored Soliman and even called for his release, while outside media channels reposted the text and amplified the message.[3] University of Colorado Boulder officials quickly distanced the institution from the group’s rhetoric, stressing that Students for Justice in Palestine does not speak for the broader campus community.[1][3] Still, the episode highlighted how campus activism in some corners has crossed a line from criticism of Israeli policy into open celebration of lethal violence against Jews.[1][3]
Imported Extremism, Immigration Failures, and the Stakes for Public Safety
The Boulder case crystallizes several concerns that conservative Americans have raised for years about immigration policy, terror threats, and weak responses to rising antisemitism. Public records show that Soliman entered the United States on a temporary visitor visa in August 2022 and applied for asylum the following month, then spent roughly a year planning his attack after being blocked from buying a gun due to his immigration status.[4] Federal indictments charged him with multiple hate crime counts, reflecting evidence that he searched for “Zionist” events and framed Israel as a “cancer entity.”[4]
For many observers, these facts underscore how lax screening and slow asylum processes can allow ideologically motivated individuals to embed themselves in American communities before striking.[4] The Boulder firebombing was not a spontaneous outburst, but a premeditated attempt to kill Jews on American soil for engaging in peaceful public advocacy.[1][3][4] That reality gives the anniversary an urgency beyond local grief: it is a warning about what happens when imported hatred, extremist propaganda, and campus radicalization collide with ordinary citizens simply walking for hostages’ freedom.
Sources:
[1] Web – Terror anniversary in Boulder, Colo., marked by observance for …
[2] Web – 2025 Boulder fire attack – Wikipedia
[3] Web – A year after Boulder’s Pearl Street firebombing, Jewish community …
[4] Web – One Year After Deadly Firebombing, Boulder SJP Celebrates Attack …
[5] Web – Man who firebombed a demonstration in Colorado, killing 1 … – 6ABC
[7] Web – Boulder Attack Public Information
