Understanding the Boulder firebomber’s motivation is important to know ‘what our options are in reevaluating our relationship with Israel,’ Kiros says
Socialist Democrat Melat Kiros, who is set to represent Denver in Congress next year, said U.S. leaders need to “tone that temperature down” and “prevent” antisemitic violence—by “reevaluating our relationship with Israel.”
Colorado Public Radio’s Ryan Warner asked Kiros during a Wednesday interview if she felt it was “important to suss out the firebomber’s motivations,” a reference to foreign national Mohamed Soliman, who attacked peaceful Jewish demonstrators in Boulder, Colo., after yelling “Free Palestine” and endorsing “jihad for Allah’s sake.” Soliman injured at least seven people, including a Holocaust survivor, and killed one. Kiros said that “whatever hatred” Soliman had “for the state of Israel and their actions manifested in a way that it inflicted violence on a group of innocent people and a group of innocent Jewish people that were protesting in this way.”
“And this kind of hatred for the state of Israel does manifest in a way that puts Jewish people in unique danger,” Kiros continued. “And understanding that piece I think is important so that we know that what our options are in reevaluating our relationship with Israel so that we can tone that temperature down and prevent some of that violence from happening.”
Kiros, who ousted a 30-year incumbent Democrat in the primary for Colorado’s First Congressional District last week, has refused to label the firebombing attack antisemitic. She also said Wednesday that she wouldn’t call the attack “pro-Palestinian,” and she refused to say that Israel has a right to exist.
“I think states have, their right to exist derives from the consent of the governed,” Kiros said after Warner asked her, “sort of straight ahead, does Israel have a right to exist?”
She continued: “And my only commitment is to democratic values. And I expect our allies to uphold those democratic values. As it exists right now, Israel is committing a genocide against the Palestinian people. They are engaging in apartheid on the Palestinian people. And our responsibility is to hold our allies accountable.”
Kiros’s comments echo her long history of anti-American, anti-Israel, and antisemitic remarks. She first gained attention after she was fired for denouncing the corporate law profession for refusing to embrace Hamas. On the campaign trail, she described both the Sept. 11, 2001, and Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks as the “inevitable” result of colonial aggression. She also enjoyed the backing of Hasan Piker, the anti-American streamer who has said that “America deserved 9/11.”
Kiros’s primary win came on the heels of a socialist sweep of New York candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D.). The Colorado Democrat is expected to cruise to victory in November—Denver hasn’t had a Republican representative in over 50 years.
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