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On June 1, 2025, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian national, launched a horrific attack on a peaceful rally in Boulder, Colorado, injuring 15 people — some critically — by dousing them in gasoline and setting them on fire.
The gathering, organized by “Run For Their Lives,” is part of a global initiative calling for the release of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. Each weekend, the group walks together for 18 minutes — symbolic tribute to the Hebrew word chai (life), which has a numerical value of 18.
Soliman approached the group on Pearl Street Mall carrying a backpack sprayer filled with gasoline and threw Molotov cocktails at the demonstrators. Victims ranged in age from 52 to 88; among them was an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor who suffered severe burns. At least two victims were airlifted to specialized burn units.
As he carried out the attack, Soliman screamed, “End Zionists,” “They are killers,” “How many children have you killed?” and “Free Palestine!” — the same slogan uttered by the perpetrator of the recent Washington, D.C. terrorist attack in which two Israeli Embassy staff members — Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram — were murdered as they exited an event dedicated to building bridges across cultures and faiths.
Despite the devastation, the organizers of “Run For Their Lives” have vowed to continue their weekly walks — with even greater resolve.
A Chilling Confession
Following his arrest, Soliman confessed that he had been planning the attack for a year, reportedly delaying it until after his daughter’s high school graduation. He told investigators that he intended to “kill all Zionist people.”
At a news conference on Monday, Colorado’s acting U.S. attorney, J. Bishop Grewell, stated that “when Soliman was interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die, he had no regrets, and he would go back and do it again.”
Authorities discovered 16 unused Molotov cocktails, a makeshift flamethrower, and multiple homemade explosive devices in his possession — evidence of a calculated and premeditated act of terror. He had initially attempted to purchase a firearm but was denied due to his immigration status.
The FBI has classified the assault as an act of terrorism. Soliman now faces a series of federal hate crime charges, including attempted murder and destruction of property with intent to intimidate Jews. Colorado state prosecutors have filed 42 felony counts, including attempted first-degree murder, assault, and possession of incendiary devices.
A System Failure With 15 Victims
While nothing compares to the horror of the attack itself, the systemic failures that allowed Soliman to remain in the U.S. long after his visa expired are deeply troubling.
According to Homeland Security officials, Soliman entered the country in August 2022 on a B-2 tourist visa, which expired in February 2023. He applied for asylum in September 2022 and was granted a work permit in March 2023, which expired in March 2025.
A Facebook account reportedly belonging to Soliman includes posts praising the late former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader — indicating ideological alignment with radical Islamist extremism.
A police affidavit stated that Soliman was born in Egypt, spent 17 years living in Kuwait, and moved to Colorado Springs three years ago, where he lived with his wife and five children — approximately 100 miles from Boulder.
Soliman made his first court appearance on Monday and is due back in court Thursday, June 5, for the filing of formal charges. He is being held on a $10 million cash bond.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has also taken Soliman’s wife and five children into custody. Authorities are investigating whether they had any knowledge of or connection to the planned attack.
When Chants Become Weapons
This marks the second major antisemitic terror attack on U.S. soil in under two weeks. In both Boulder and Washington, the attackers screamed “Free Palestine” while committing violence against Jews. These are not isolated incidents—they are part of a rapidly escalating crisis. The chant of “Free Palestine” is not a call for human rights or liberation; it has become a rallying cry to kill Jews under the guise of political activism.
Radical anti-Israel slogans like “globalize the intifada” and “by any means necessary” are no longer limited to online echo chambers — they are being weaponized in the streets of American cities. These chants romanticize the Second Intifada, a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and terror attacks that claimed over 1,000 Israeli lives between 2000 and 2005.
Some campus groups have urged their supporters to “bring the war home” and have issued explicitly pro-Hamas statements (see here, here, and here for examples). Given this deeply troubling context, it is unsurprising that antisemitic violence is directly emerging from such radical ideologies.
Jewish security experts have warned that the Washington murders could inspire copycat attacks. The Boulder assault has confirmed those fears.
Incited Online, Carried Out in the Streets
Social media platforms have accelerated the spread of antisemitic rhetoric, allowing conspiracy theories to thrive unchecked. After the Washington, D.C. shooting, researcher Matthias Becker analyzed 200 comments on major YouTube news accounts and found widespread mockery of the victims, dehumanization, and baseless claims that the attack was staged by Jews themselves. Some openly celebrated the violence.
ARC is currently working with Cyabra, a leading research firm, to analyze how antisemitic narratives surrounding the Boulder attack are evolving online. Early findings suggest a similarly disturbing pattern of denial, justification, and glorification.
A Moral and Strategic Imperative
Now is the time for decisive action — not statements.
- Law enforcement must heighten protection at Jewish events and institutions across the country.
- Social media platforms must permanently ban antisemitic and terror-supporting accounts, and enforce their content policies without exception.
- News outlets must stop laundering Hamas propaganda — whether through euphemisms, false moral framing, or selective omission.
- Civic leaders and citizens alike must treat rising antisemitic incitement as a national threat — and respond with public condemnation, protective policies, and zero tolerance for those who enable it.
To remain silent is to be complicit.
The Illusion of Safety Has Shattered
The Holocaust survivor burned in the Boulder attack had already lived through history’s darkest chapter. She survived the Nazi inferno — only to be engulfed in flames again, this time in America, in 2025, at the hands of a radicalized antisemite shouting slogans of “justice.”
That grotesque symmetry should haunt us all.
The warning signs are no longer distant or theoretical. They’re burning on our streets, echoing across our campuses, and spreading through our screens.
History teaches — what starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews. Antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem — it is a moral plague that corrodes the foundations of every society it touches.
If we don’t confront this hatred now, we won’t just relive history — we’ll witness the writing the writing of its next chapter.
