Twelve people have been injured in a horrific anti-Semitic hate crime in Boulder Co, and two remain in the hospital in serious condition. The victims range in age from 52 to 88. The latest in a string of brutal attacks against Jewish Americans, the incident draws further attention to how utterly out of control domestic anti-Semitism has grown.
Suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old man reportedly in the United States illegally, brought 18 Molotov cocktails to a pro-Israel demonstration calling for the release of hostages in Gaza. He threw 2 of the crudely constructed homemade explosives and used what police are describing as a ‘makeshift flamethrower’ to inflict further injuries. Soliman is reportedly aggrieved over the death of Palestinian civilians following the invasion of Israel in October 2023, shouting, “They are killers! How many children have you killed?” as he carried out the attack.
The incident comes just 10 days after two staffers of the Israeli embassy were gunned down while leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. The suspect in those brutal murders, 30-year-old Elias Gonzales of Chicago, shouted “Free Palestine” as he was taken into custody. He was charged this week with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm, one count of murder of a foreign official, and one count of discharge of a firearm. If found guilty, he could potentially face the death penalty.
These victims include an 88-year-old woman who had fled a Nazi regime in Europe so many years ago, already giving up an entire life to seek out what should have remained a safe refuge for the remainder of hers. Soliman told authorities he had planned the attack for over a year, waiting for his daughter to first graduate from university so as not to disrupt her studies. He faces federal hate crime charges alongside a slew of state-level allegations and could also potentially be put to death.
While the primary matter at hand is anti-Jewish hatred, the issue of Soliman’s citizenship status is likewise germane to Trumpian immigration policy, as the President has already undertaken an aggressive agenda of deportation. The Egyptian national allegedly entered the United States in late August 2022 as a tourist and was granted work permission by the Biden administration despite having already overstayed his original allowances.
Members of the GOP, including the President himself and House Speaker Mike Johnson, have placed direct blame on policies in place under Biden that allowed Soliman to spend such extended time in the United States. Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller called the attitude “suicidal immigration” and suggested the incident might have been prevented had proper procedure been followed. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has already ordered a thorough review of all immigrants in the United States on expired visas in the hopes of avoiding another similar tragedy.
How is the Trump administration doing in handling domestic anti-Semitism? How does such action differ from that of the Biden administration?
Hilary Gunn is a Connecticut native with a degree in Criminal Justice from the George Washington University. She works for a nonprofit and has previously collaborated with the CT GOP as an activist, political campaign manager and field director, and social media organizer. She is currently serving in her fourth term of municipal office and has previously acted as a delegate on the Republican Town Committee.