_WHAT’S HAPPENING_
Eight people were injured in a terror attack Sunday afternoon in Boulder, Colorado, after an Egyptian national illegally living in the US threw Molotov cocktails and used a homemade flamethrower on a peaceful rally to support Israeli hostages.
The suspect, 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman, reportedly shouted “Free Palestine” and other anti-Israel slogans during the assault.
This marks the second recent violent act of terror committed by a pro-Palestine radical, coming as anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments proliferate.
_THE FACTS_
The Egyptian national entered the US in August 2022 on a visa, granted by the Biden administration, that expired in February 2023.
Authorities discovered 16 additional unlit Molotov cocktails in a container near Soliman at the time of his arrest.
The attack injured 12 people, with two victims requiring helicopter transport to specialized burn units. One remains in critical condition.
His oldest victim — who survived with injuries — was a Jewish woman who had escaped Europe during Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.
According to federal charging documents, Soliman confessed to planning the attack for over a year, waiting until after his daughter graduated from high school.
Soliman told investigators he "wanted to kill all Zionist people” and that he would do it again.
President Donald Trump blamed the attack on "Biden's open border policy," saying illegal "anti-American radicals" must be deported.
The Boulder attack follows the shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC by a pro-Palestine terrorist.
_INSIGHTS_
This violent attack stands at the intersection of two major issues in American politics: illegal migration and rising anti-Jewish hatred.
The former issue was particularly aggravated by President Joe Biden’s allowance of millions into the country illegally and his administration’s poor enforcement of deportation laws. Soliman’s visa expired over two years ago — plenty of time for the Biden administration to have had him removed.
Second, the Boulder attack comes on the heels of the shooting in Washington, DC, where Israeli embassy staff were murdered. The spread of anti-Jewish rhetoric and lies against Israel across college campuses, social media, and the press fuels a climate where violence against Jews is rationalized or even celebrated.
The stakes are no longer theoretical. The violence is here, and it is escalating.
