Yesterday, FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, posted on social media that the incident in Boulder, Colorado, was being investigated as an act of terror.

But when federal charges came down against the alleged attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, Justice Department prosecutors filed one hate crime charge and no counts related to terrorism.

Here’s what to know: Typically, prosecutors would have to prove at trial that someone accused of terrorism is either associated with, or inspired by, designated foreign terrorist organizations. Without those explicit ties, it is difficult for the Justice Department to bring terrorism charges.

And as for incidents of alleged domestic terrorism, there are no federal charges that prosecutors can use that are explicitly for acts of domestic terrorism. Instead, prosecutors can ask for an increased prison sentence for domestic terrorism once that suspect is convicted of another crime in the matter.

Court records do not indicate that Soliman has ties to foreign organizations. Still, the investigation is ongoing, and additional charges could be brought.

Bringing a hate crime charge, like the department did in this case, comes with its own challenges, as prosecutors must prove that the accused Soliman was motivated to attack the crowd on the basis of things like religion, gender or race.

According to court records, Soliman told investigators he “wanted to kill all Zionist people” and witnesses say as someone was trying to talk Soliman down after the attack, he kept yelling, “f**k you, Zionist” and “you all deserve to die.”

A man yelling “Free Palestine!” used incendiary devices and a makeshift flamethrower to attack people calling for the release of Israeli hostages Sunday in Colorado, in what authorities are calling a targeted antisemitic attack.

Witnesses described seeing huge flames and people pouring buckets of water onto burning victims. At least 12 people were injured, including four women and four men between the ages of 52 and 88, authorities said. Two victims were airlifted to the Denver metro area. At least one victim was “very seriously injured,” officials said.

No victims have died, the Boulder Police Department said Monday morning.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

The FBI is investigating the attack as “an act of terrorism,” the agency said. It happened at a weekly walk in support of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Among the victims is a Holocaust survivor, according to a person who knows the victim and was at the event. It is unclear what their condition is.

The suspect in the attack, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, is charged with a federal hate crime, according to an affidavit filed Sunday. He’s also facing a number of state charges, including 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder; two counts of use of an incendiary device; 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device; and eight counts of first-degree assault.

He was previously booked on two counts of first-degree murder.

Soliman faces life in prison if convicted of the federal charge, acting United States Attorney for the District of Colorado J. Bishop Grewell said Monday. And he could face 384 years in state prison if convicted of the 16 attempted murder counts, according to Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Authorities recovered 16 unused Molotov cocktails after the incident, Dougherty said Monday.

Soliman made his first court appearance Monday in Colorado District Court and is scheduled to return Thursday afternoon for the filing of charges. He is being held on a $10 million cash bond, the judge said.

Soliman, who appeared on camera in an orange jumpsuit from Boulder County Jail, didn’t enter a plea at Monday’s hearing.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the department will hold the perpetrator “accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

Law enforcement officials investigate after the Sunday attack in Boulder. – David Zalubowski/AP

In videos obtained by CNN, Soliman, 45, is seen shirtless, yelling “Palestine is free!” “End Zionists!” and “They are killers!” He carries two bottles, and witnesses can be heard saying he’s “spraying alcohol” and “he’s making Molotov cocktails.”

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Soliman threw two Molotov cocktails before he was arrested, the federal affidavit said. He arrived in the area around 1 p.m. wearing a utility vest over his shirt and carrying a garden sprayer filled with gasoline. Many witnesses said he looked like a gardener, officials said.

Law enforcement officers detain suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman in Boulder on Sunday. – OpusObscura/X/Reuters

During an interview, Soliman told local and federal agents he had researched on YouTube how to make Molotov cocktails and bought the ingredients and constructed the incendiary devices, federal charging documents say.

Police also found a “backpack weed sprayer,” which, along with glass bottles, was determined to be filled with gasoline commonly found at gas stations as well as xylene, a colorless, highly flammable and sweet-smelling liquid, according to the federal court documents.

Officials are working to assess whether the alleged attacker has any possible mental health issues, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN. Law enforcement visited Soliman’s home in Colorado Springs, about 100 miles south of Boulder, the affidavit said.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Sunday’s attack came less than two weeks after two young Israeli Embassy staffers were fatally shot in Washington, DC, by a man who claimed to have been acting “for Gaza.”

“The Jewish community has been warning the world that chants of ‘globalize the Intifada’ and ‘resistance by any means necessary’ are calls to violence. We’ve now seen that violence erupt in America twice in less than two weeks,” Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, said on social media.

Here’s what else we know about the Boulder attack.

A weekly gathering to support Israeli hostages descends into chaos

Sunday’s attack took place on the Pearl Street pedestrian mall, where a weekly “Run for Their Lives” event was being held. The event, which has taken place regularly since mid-October 2023, aims to raise awareness of Israeli hostages being held captive by Hamas and calls for their release.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

“This global grass roots organization was founded on October 15, 2023, a week after the horrendous terrorist attack by Hamas. … These walks have been held every week since then for all the hostages – without any violent incidents until today,” the organization said in a statement.

Soliman targeted the group after researching them online. He knew about their meeting Sunday and was planning to conduct the attack for a year but was waiting on his daughter to graduate, according to the affidavit.

Witness Brian Horwitz told CNN he and his family were dining at a food hall near the scene when a woman ran toward them saying a man was “throwing fire” at people.

Horwitz got up and ran into the courtyard, where he saw a man carrying a tank on his back that resembled a gardening chemical sprayer.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Another man was trying to talk the suspect down, but the suspect kept yelling, “f**k you, Zionist,” “you all deserve to die,” and “you’ve killed these children.”

A bomb disposal robot sits on Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday. – Eli Imadali/AFP/Getty Images

After calling 911, Horwitz went to see whether he could assist any victims. He described seeing an elderly woman lying on the ground, unresponsive.

“There were several people attending to her and wrapping her up, trying to ensure she was OK,” he said. People from a restaurant across the street were bringing large buckets of ice water to help extinguish the flames, he added.

He grabbed a bucket and filled it with water from a fountain in the middle of the courtyard, he said. “I just kept filling that up and pouring it on their legs.”

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

“Their pants were completely burned and singed off. It looked like their skin had just melted off their bodies.”

Many of the victims are well known in the community, said Elyana Funk, executive director of the University of Boulder Hillel. She talked to a couple of them, including one woman who is “healing from horrible burns.”

“She really felt like this happened not just to her, but to the whole community,” Funk said. A mother and daughter were also wounded in the attack, she said.

The mother “is a Holocaust survivor in her 80s who’s been through certainly enough trauma,” she added.

“This wasn’t a pro-Israel rally or some sort of political statement on the war,” she said. “These are peaceful people who’ve been walking for nearly 20 months weekly to bring awareness for the hostages.”

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Six of the injured are members of the Congregation Bonai Shalom in Boulder, according to CNN affiliate KUSA. Four of them were hospitalized and discharged, while two were airlifted to a hospital near Denver, the congregation’s leader, Rabbi Marc Soloway, told KUSA.

One person remains in serious condition, Soloway said.

“Tragically, the person who was most seriously injured, it was their first time going on the walk,” the rabbi said.

The congregation, which Soloway said is “like a big family,” is struggling to process a range of emotions in the aftermath of the attack.

“We’re all just feeling broken and angry and grieving and sad and hopeless,” Soloway said.

Suspect not a US national, overstayed tourist visa

Videos obtained by CNN capture Soliman, shirtless, on a patch of grass near an area that has obvious burn marks. Around him are black clouds of smoke.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Witnesses said Soliman took off his vest and shirt because they had started to catch fire during the attack, according to police. He was taken to an area hospital after his arrest for treatment of burns he sustained to his hands during the attack.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the suspect in the Boulder attack, is seen in his mugshot. – Boulder Police Department

In an interview with law enforcement after his arrest, Soliman “stated that he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead. Soliman stated he would do it (conduct an attack) again,” the affidavit read.

Soliman “planned on dying” in the attack, according to a warrant for his arrest. He said he threw two Molotov cocktails only because he “got scared and had never hurt anyone before,” according to the warrant, and “he would not forgive himself if he did not do it.”

No one else knew about his plan, Soliman said, according to the warrant.

Soliman had taken a concealed-carry class and learned to shoot a gun, but he was unable to purchase one because he was not a legal citizen, the warrant said.

As of Sunday, the FBI had been working to determine whether Soliman may have been suffering from mental health concerns, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

Soliman arrived in the United States in August 2022 on a non-immigrant B2 visa that expired the following February, according to Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security.

Soliman is an Egyptian national, according to law enforcement sources.

He filed for asylum in September 2022, McLaughlin said on X.

Soliman was granted a work authorization in March 2023, multiple law enforcement officials said. The authorization expired at the end of March 2025, at which point it appears he remained here illegally, the officials added.

Law enforcement sources previously told CNN the suspect had applied for asylum and been rejected for a visa in 2005.

Boulder attack victims are treated Sunday. CNN has added blur to their faces for reasons of privacy. – Ivan A.

Jewish leaders on high alert after second antisemitic attack in two weeks

“Today, six people were set on fire by a terrorist in Boulder, Colorado. Why? Because they were calling for 58 hostages still held by Hamas terrorists to finally be returned home,” Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, said on social media.

The Boulder attack was part of a “wave of domestic terror attacks aimed at the Jewish community,” said Eric D. Fingerhut, the president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America. Fingerhut outlined a six-point plan for the federal government to address the growing threat.

His proposals included increasing a non-profit security grant program funding to $1 billion to meet urgent needs, dedicating resources for security personnel at Jewish institutions, bolstering FBI intelligence capabilities to thwart domestic terrorism and holding social media platforms accountable for spreading antisemitic hate and incitement, among others.

The Boulder Police Department will increase the number of officers at community events in the next seven to 10 days, Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said Monday.

“We want to ensure that people feel comfortable and safe in this community gathering, and remembering what happened, as well as any other planned events that we have,” he said.

Rabbi Soloway of the heavily impacted Congregation Bonai Shalom says all services at their synagogue now require armed security.

“It is just inconceivable that Jewish people in the United States of America in 2025 can feel so unsafe right now,” Soloway told KUSA.

In response to Sunday’s attack, authorities in major cities across the US have deployed extra security at Jewish sites and community centers.

On Sunday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced in a statement an emergency meeting will be held in City Hall to address heightened security ahead of the Jewish holiday Shavuot, and the Los Angeles Police Department would be conducting “extra patrols at houses of worship and community centers” throughout the city.

“Antisemitism will not be tolerated,” she said.

On the East Coast, the New York Police Department said its presence has increased at synagogues and other religious sites across the city for Shavuot.

CNN’s Amanda Musa, Josh Campbell, Hanna Park, Matt Rehbein and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report

This story has been updated with additional information.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com

Eli Imadali/AFP via Getty Images

(BOULDER, Co) — As law enforcement agents investigate Sunday’s fiery attack on a group of pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, crime data shows the rampage came amid a dramatic increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes across the nation, suggesting further that the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists continues to spill into the U.S.

The suspect in the Boulder attack, 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman, allegedly yelled “Free Palestine” while targeting the pro-Israel demonstrators with a “flamethrower” fashioned from a commercial backpack weed sprayer and Molotov cocktails at a pedestrian mall, authorities said.

Soliman entered the United States in August 2022 on a B2 tourist visa, which expired in February 2023, according to Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. He filed for asylum in September 2022, McLaughlin said.

Court documents made public in the case allege Soliman, who was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years before moving to Colorado Springs, Colorado, three years ago, “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wish they were all dead.”

While some politicians and pro-Israel activists have used antisemitism as a catchall word for an alleged motive in the attack, the suspect told investigators, “This had nothing to do with the Jewish community and was specific in the Zionist group supporting the killings of people on his land (Palestine),” according to state court documents.

But Ted Deutch, chief executive officer of the American Jewish Committee, noted that the attack came less than two weeks after a gunman shouting “Free Palestine” killed two Israeli embassy staff members outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

“These are not isolated incidents,” Deutch told ABC News. “This is a war against people who support Israel, it’s a war against the Jewish people and nobody should tolerate it.”

Deutch added, “We have to acknowledge that the incitement that we’ve seen from the language that’s being used, the lies about genocide, the calls for globalizing the Intifada, resistance by any means necessary, all of this language contributes to an environment in which violence will, and now twice in two weeks, has taken place.”

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, told ABC News that while there has been a spike in attacks on the American Jewish community since the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise assault on Israel by Hamas terrorists, antisemitic attacks in the United States have been steadily climbing for the last decade.

“The last few months have put a fine point on the fact that there are those who are using the guise of protesting Israel to target and violently attack Jews,” Spitalnick said.

Spitalnick said the term Zionism is “woefully misunderstood” by the general public.

“What Zionism means to me is generally the belief that Jews should have a homeland somewhere in this part of world where we have deep historical connections. And it actually goes hand-in-hand with the belief in Palestinian self-determination and dignity for me and many others,” she said.

“When the term is used in this pejorative as we have seen it particularly over the last few years, but long before that as well, it effectively says that 80% to 90% of Jews should be discriminated against, or cast out of spaces, or in extreme cases violently targeted as we saw this weekend. That is antisemitism when you’re saying the majority of American Jews are fair game,” Spitalnick added.

She said the majority of American Jews have a relationship with Israel.

“That doesn’t mean that we agree with its government,” Spitalnick said. “In fact, many of us, and many Israelis, don’t agree with the government and don’t necessarily support what’s happening in Gaza right now.”

National alarm sounded before attack

According to an audit issued in April by the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents, including assaults and vandalism, has jumped 344% over the past five years and increased 893% over the past 10 years.

“For the first time in the history of the Audit, a majority (58%) of all incidents contained elements related to Israel or Zionism,” according to the ADL.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents have been reported in the United States alone, according to the ADL.

In addition to the Washington, D.C., and Boulder attacks, a 38-year-old man was arrested in April and charged with firebombing the Pennsylvania governor’s residence in Harrisburg, while Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, and his family were asleep inside, officials said. According to a search warrant affidavit, the suspect allegedly targeted Shapiro “based upon perceived injustices to the people of Palestine.”

Islamophobic attack have also been on the rise, according to a report issued in March by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. CAIR reported that it received more than 8,650 complaints in 2024, the highest number the group has ever gotten.

Among the high-profile anti-Muslim incidents reported over the last two years was the fatal Oct. 14, 2023, stabbing of 6-year-old Palestinian American boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, by his Illinois landlord, 73-year-old Joseph Czuba, who prosecutors said killed the child and attacked his mother in response to the Israel-Hamas war. Czuba was convicted of murder and hate crime charges in February and was sentenced in May to 53 years in prison.

On Nov. 25, 2023, three college students of Palestinian descent were shot, including one who was paralyzed, in Burlington, Vermont, when they were allegedly targeted by 48-year-old Jason J. Eaton, a former Boy Scout leader, as the students, who were visiting the city during the Thanksgiving holiday, were walking in his neighborhood speaking a mix of Arabic and English, authorities said. Two of the students were wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves. Eaton has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and is awaiting a trial.

While there were widespread calls for a hate crime charge against Eaton, prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to support such a charge.

Following the deadly May 21 Washington, D.C., rampage, the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin warning law enforcement that “violent extremist messaging continues to highlight major sporting and cultural events and venues as potential targets.”

“The May attack that killed two Israeli Embassy staff members at an event in Washington, D.C., underscores how the Israel-Hamas conflict continue to inspire violence and could spur radicalization or mobilization to violence against targets perceived as supporting Israel,” according to the DHS, adding that some online users were sharing the suspect’s alleged writings and “praising the shooter and generally calling for more violence.”

The increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks have come against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The administration has also threatened to withhold federal funding to universities, including Harvard and Columbia, for not doing enough to tackle antisemitism on campuses. The administration has attempted to deport or revoke visas of foreign students who have engaged in pro-Palestinian protests and activism on college campuses.

In April, five Democratic Senators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, sent a letter to Trump accusing his administration of weaponizing antisemitism.

“We are extremely troubled and disturbed by your broad and extra-legal attacks against universities and higher education institutions as well as members of their communities, which seem to go far beyond combatting antisemitism, using what is a real crisis as a pretext to attack people and institutions who do not agree with you,” the Democratic senators wrote, urging Trump to “reverse course immediately.”

‘An act of terrorism’

Within hours of the Boulder attack on Sunday, FBI Director Kash Patel was quick to say the case is being investigated as “an act of terrorism.”

Twelve people, including members of the group Run for Their Lives, an organization that regularly holds demonstrations in Boulder to bring attention to the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, were injured in the attack, which unfolded around 1:26 p.m. local time at Boulder’s outdoor Pearl Street Mall, directly across the street from the Boulder County Courthouse, authorities said.

Video taken of the incident showed a shirtless Soliman allegedly holding his makeshift weapons prior to the attack. Soliman was immediately taken into custody without incident. Soliman, who is being held on $10 million bond, made his first court appearance on Monday afternoon. He did not enter a plea to the charges.

Unlike previous high-profile hate-crime investigations, the Boulder attack was immediately described as an act of terrorism, signaling a change in the approach federal investigators have taken in such incidents under the new Trump administration.

“Back when I was in [the FBI], so before 2016, everything was terrorism until it wasn’t terrorism. We still were working off the 9/11 response,” said retired FBI special agent Rich Frankel, an ABC News contributor. “And after that, it appeared that they started calling it hate crime.”

Frankel said the FBI’s decision to immediately refer to the Boulder incident as an act of terrorism is apparently because it allows investigators to use additional laws and investigative techniques, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which establishes the legal framework for the gathering of intelligence, electronic surveillance and physical searches. He said it also enables prosecutors to file additional enhanced charges.

“If you think there might be an international angle naming a group or a country, it is terrorism and that gives you a whole host of different laws that you can use and also investigative techniques because now you’re under the FISA system, you’re under the secret system. Instead of getting search warrants, you can get a FISA,” Frankel said. “The new administration might want that more than a hate crime.”

President Donald Trump has also used the word terrorism to describe the Boulder case, saying in a post Monday on his Truth Social platform that the suspect “came through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly.”

“He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ POLICY,” Trump added. “Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

BOULDER, CO − The man accused of setting twelve people aflame at a pro-Israel protest here has been charged with a federal hate crime after telling investigators he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished all of them were dead, according to an FBI affidavit released Monday.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is accused of attacking the weekly “Run for Their Lives” demonstration on Sunday with a makeshift flamethrower and fire bombs while shouting “Free Palestine.” The victims, ages 52 to 88, suffered injuries ranging from serious to minor.

A total of 12 people were burned in the incident, Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said in a news conference on Monday. Authorities previously said there were eight victims, but four more came forward, Redfearn announced.

Soliman was unrepentant, telling authorities he learned about the demonstration from an online search and wanted to keep them from taking over “our land” − Palestine, according to the affidavit. It says Soliman told investigators he planned the attack for a year and waited for his daughter to graduate before executing it.

Soliman was taken into custody at the scene. He appeared in court on Monday, where a judge set bond at $10 million, according to Shannon Carbone, a spokesperson for the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office. Soliman is due back in court on June 5, Judge Nancy Salomone said.

“The Department of Justice has swiftly charged the illegal alien perpetrator of this heinous attack with a federal hate crime and will hold him accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

Soliman also faces several state-level charges of attempted murder, assault, and possession of an incendiary device, according to an arrest affidavit. More charges are expected due to the four additional victims, authorities said.

Witness recounts putting out flames on the victim

About 24 hours after the attack, witness Lisa Turnquist returned to Pearl Street to lay flowers and a small Israeli flag at a small memorial. Turnquist, 66, said she’d been a regular attendee at the Sunday marches, rain, snow, or shine, and was arriving on June 1 when she saw flames on a woman’s legs.

Turnquist, who is Jewish, said she grabbed a towel from her dog Jake’s stroller and used it to smother the flames on the elderly woman’s legs. Turnquist said she provided a statement to investigators after the incident.

She said she had seen Soliman moments before and thought he looked out of place because he was wearing what appeared to be landscaping clothing and carrying a sprayer.

“Something said keep on walking by him,” she said. “All he had to do would have been to spray me. It took eight of us to get the fire out on her.”

Turnquist said she began participating a few weeks after the marches began following the October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel. She said that walkers have long been confronted with allegations that they are complicit in genocide for demanding Hamas release its hostages.

“We just want them home, and that’s why we do this,” she said. “I woke up this morning and didn’t want to get out of bed. I didn’t want to get out of bed and didn’t want to talk to my friends who were calling me. But this is when we have to get up and stand up and we have to push back.”

Authorities: 12 people burned in incident

Federal and Colorado authorities shared at a news conference Monday afternoon that there were at least 12 total victims of the attack. At least two victims were flown to a hospital in Aurora and remained hospitalized, according to Redfearn.

Acting U.S. Attorney for Colorado J. Bishop Grewell said Soliman was charged with a federal hate crime.

“No one should ever be subjected to violence of any kind but our laws recognize such violence is particularly pernicious when someone is targeted because of their race, ethnicity or national origin,” Grewell said. The suspect “acted because he hated what he called ‘the Zionist group.'”

The FBI labeled the incident as a terrorist attack, though Soliman has not been charged with terrorism. Grewell said that “just because there’s only one charge doesn’t mean we’re not considering other charges.”

Grewell noted the suspect used Molotov cocktails after being unable to purchase a gun for the attack.

FBI Special Agent-in-Charge for Denver Mark Michalek said authorities found 16 unused Molotov cocktails on Soliman. He credited the police’s quick response with preventing the suspect from using the additional fire bombs.

Soliman was not on the police’s “radar” before the attack, Redfearn said. “This is not someone we were aware of.”

Who is Mohamed Soliman? Records reveal Colorado terror suspect tried to purchase a gun

Governor, community leaders: ‘Hate is unacceptable in our Colorado’

Members of Boulder’s Jewish community expressed shock and sadness the day after peaceful demonstrators were attacked and set on fire.

“This really saddens me greatly,” said Linda Foster, the president and CEO of Jewish Family Services in Colorado. “Because when you have such a brutal attack that it’s considered a hate crime, it’s just disillusioning to think there’s that much hate in this country.”

The community is preparing for the Boulder Jewish Festival scheduled for this coming weekend on the Pearl Street Mall. Foster said there is some anxiety about safety at the event, but that she’s been in contact with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis about increased security.

Polis, who is Jewish and represented Boulder in Congress for a decade, noted the attack was part of a troubling trend of antisemitic violence.

“As the Jewish community reels from the recent antisemitic murders in Washington, D.C., it is unfathomable that the community is facing another antisemitic attack here in Boulder, on the eve of the holiday of Shavuot,” he said in a statement. “Hate is unacceptable in our Colorado for all.”

Read more here.

— Nate Trela, Fort Collins Coloradoan

Jewish nonprofit offers training to combat antisemitism

Two weeks ago, security expert Richard Priem was in Washington, D.C., after a man fatally shot two Israeli embassy staff members. Now he’s headed to Boulder, chasing down the latest incident of violent antisemitism.

“I wish we weren’t necessary and out of business,” said Priem, CEO of Community Security Service, a New York-based nonprofit that offers free professional-level security training for Jewish communities nationwide.

After the second attack on Jewish people in two weeks, he said his efforts to teach community members to protect themselves are more essential than ever.

“Think of it as a force amplifier,” said Priem, whose nonprofit is privately funded. “We have to be vigilant.”

Priem said his organization has worked with about 500 synagogues so far and provided some form of training to nearly 15,000 people. Training includes instruction in an Israeli martial art and self-defense course.

“More and more Jewish organizations are calling us to work with law enforcement and private security to keep their community safe,” Priem said. “People are realizing the threat is real and isn’t going away.”

Read more here.

— Terry Collins

Rabbi: Half of the victims were members of a Colorado synagogue

Six of the dozen victims of the attack were members of Congregation Bonai Shalom, a synagogue located just four miles from the downtown mall where the attack happened, according to a report by KUSA-TV.

Rabbi Marc Soloway told the news station that all six were hospitalized and two had to be emergency airlifted to UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora. The other four were discharged. One congregation member remains in serious condition, Soloway said.

“It brings up horrific images of our past,” Soloway told the news outlet. “Just the idea of somebody who literally has their body on fire in the middle of the mall in Boulder, Colorado, it just defies belief.”

Congregation Bonai Shalom was founded in 1981 and has over 250 families registered as members, according to the synagogue’s website. The person who remains in serious condition was participating in the walk to raise awareness for Israeli hostages for the first time, Soloway told KUSA-TV.

Suspect says he learned to make Molotov cocktails from the Internet

Soliman is a married father of five who told investigators he learned how to make Molotov cocktails from the Internet and ranted about protecting Palestine, the FBI said.

According to investigators, Soliman had been planning the attack for a year and bought 87-octane gasoline the day of the attack as he drove from his home in Colorado Springs to Boulder, about 100 miles north. The FBI said investigators found 14 unused Molotov cocktails in a plastic bin near where police detained Soliman, along with a weed sprayer loaded with gas.

Investigators said Soliman disclosed he had left at home an iPhone containing messages to his family, along with a journal. Investigators did not immediately release any details of those messages or the journal’s contents.

Soliman is being held on a $10 million bond at the Boulder County Jail and is accused of throwing two lit glass bottles of gas at the protesters.

“Throughout the interview, Soliman stated that he hated the Zionist group and did this because he hated this group and needed to stop them from taking over ‘our land,’ which he explained to be Palestine,” FBI agent Jessica Krueger said in an affidavit. “He stated that he had been planning the attack for a year and was waiting until after his daughter graduated to conduct the attack.”

‘The definition of antisemitism’: People react to fatal Israeli embassy shooting

Soliman entered the United States on a tourist visa in 2022

Soliman, of El Paso County, Colorado, was taken into custody after witnesses pointed him out, authorities said. He was booked on multiple preliminary charges, including first-degree murder and using explosives or an incendiary device while committing a felony.

Police said Soliman was injured in the incident and taken to a hospital to be medically evaluated before he was booked in the Boulder County jail. Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, said Soliman overstayed a tourist visa issued in 2022.

“In response, the Biden administration gave him a work permit,” Miller said in a social media post. “Immigration security is national security. No more hostile migration. Keep them out and send them back.”

CBS News and Fox News, citing unnamed sources, reported that Soliman is an Egyptian national. FBI agents searched Soliman’s home in El Paso County hours after the attack, the agency’s field office in Denver said on X.

Read more here.

Soliman worked for Uber

Uber confirmed on Monday that Soliman had worked as a driver starting in spring 2023. The company did not specify whether he worked driving passengers or for Uber Eats, or both.

In a statement to USA TODAY, the company said his account has been terminated, prohibiting him from working there again. The company noted that he passed a background check and provided the legally required documents necessary to work as a contractor.

“Mr. Soliman had no concerning feedback while driving on the Uber platform,” the company said in a statement. “We’ve banned the driver’s account and have been in touch with law enforcement.”

Trump blames Biden administration border policies

Trump on Monday cited Soliman as another reason to “deport illegal, anti-American radicals” from the U.S.

“Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America,” Trump said in a social media post. “He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under “TRUMP” Policy. Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law.”

‘We are shaken’: Jewish Community Center tightens security

Four miles from the scene of the attack, security was extra tight at the sprawling Boulder Jewish Community Center campus, where outdoor summer camp programs were being held under the watch of both police and armed private security. The JCC serves as a central hub for many Jewish residents, and security guards are a regular presence.Staff at the JCC said they are still discussing how to honor the victims of the attack and declined to comment publicly.

“When events like this enter our own community, we are shaken. Our hope is that we come together for one another,” center officials said in a social media post. “Strength to you all.”

‘Threat is real’: Jewish nonprofit offers free security training to combat antisemitism

Attack comes after Israeli Embassy staffers were fatally shot

The attack fell on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot and came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy aides were fatally shot outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C.

Yaron Lischinsky and his girlfriend, Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were shot after a Young Diplomats reception hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

The suspect in that attack, Elias Rodriguez, 31, chanted “Free Palestine, free Palestine,” after being taken into custody by event security. He is charged with a long list of crimes, including federal and local murder charges and the murder of foreign officials.

The May shooting is being investigated as a hate and terrorism crime.

FBI pledges ‘preventative action’ to protect Americans

The Boulder attack occurred at a “regularly scheduled, weekly, peaceful event,” FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said. Anyone with videos, social media posts or digital recordings was asked to upload them at www.fbi.gov/boulderattack.

“We stand in full solidarity with those targeted,” Michalek said. “We will continue to ensure that justice is pursued swiftly, support is provided to victims and their communities, and preventative action is taken to protect everyone’s safety.”

Netanyahu cites ‘blood libels against the Jewish state’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday expressed solidarity with the victims who were attacked “simply because they were Jews. ” He said he was confident U.S. authorities would prosecute “the cold-blood perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law.”

“The antisemitic attacks around the world are a direct result of blood libels against the Jewish state and people, and this must be stopped,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

What is a B-2 visa?

Soliman was in the United States on a B-2 tourism visa, according to Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. A B-2 visa is generally used for tourism and is issued by the State Department. In general, the visas are valid for six months and can be used for vacations, visiting relatives, medical treatment or participation in music, sports or events.

The State Department issues millions of B-1 and B-2 visas each year. B-1 visas are similar to B-2 and allow for nonimmigrants to visit for six months for conferences and business reasons.

Soliman entered the United States in August 2022, and his visa expired in February 2023. McLaughlin wrote on X that Soliman applied for asylum in 2022. That claim was likely still pending.

As of March, the immigration court backlog was about 3.6 million cases, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

− Nick Penzenstadler

Holocaust survivor among the wounded

Rabbi Israel Wilhelm, the Chabad director at the University of Colorado Boulder, told CBS Colorado the 88-year-old victim is a Holocaust refugee who fled Europe. Wilhelm described the woman as a “very loving person.”

Chany Scheiner, a friend of the victim, told KUSA-TV the woman is “amazing.”

“She has spoken at our synagogues as well as other synagogues and schools just about her background and the Holocaust and from her own perspective,” Scheiner said. “Her life wasn’t easy, but she is just a bright light. And anybody who is her friend is a friend for life.”

Antisemitic hate crimes on the rise in the U.S.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the U.S. and around the world over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The war has dragged on for 20 months, since the Hamas attack on Israeli border communities that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw more than 250 others dragged across the border into Gaza as hostages.

The conflict has fueled antisemitic hate crime in the U.S. Reports of incidents of antisemitism rose for a second year in a row in 2024, according to an annual report released by the Anti-Defamation League in April.

The controversy also has prompted supporters of Israel, including Trump, to brand peaceful, pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic.

Contributing: Thao Nguyen, Susan Miller, Bart Jansen, and Michael Collins, USA TODAY; Reuters

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Before the Colorado town of Boulder was rocked by a shocking terrorist attack on a pro-Israel demonstration, the city had been grappling with an anti-Semitism scandal within its own council.

Earlier this year, the city council was forced to move all its meetings online due to rampant pro-Palestine protests disrupting hearings on new policies, while a member of the council was even accused of sharing pro-Hamas social media posts.

Since Sunday’s attack, the city’s ties to the Middle East have come under closer scrutiny.

Many are now shocked to learn it is a ‘sister city’ to Nablus in Palestine. That special relationship is nurtured by city councilwoman Taishya Adams, Boulder’s liaison to Nablus.

She has come under fire in recent months for her comments about the conflict.

At a November 2024 meeting, she shocked colleagues and constituents by stating the town has ‘blood on its hands’ and ‘skin in the game’, allegedly in reference to the October 7 attacks.

Her pro-Palestine social media posts have enraged Jewish residents so much that many have called for her removal from the city council.

When confronted by calls for Adams to at least lose her liaison position with the Palestinian city, Boulder Mayor Aaron Brocket refused to remove her as he said doing so would ‘tear the City Council apart.’

Boulder City Councilwoman Taishya Adams (pictured) incensed Jewish residents so much that many called for her to be fired

Adams has faced calls to be removed as Boulder’s liaison with sister city Nablus in Palestine

Adams condemned Sunday’s attack by re-sharing an Instagram story (pictured) from Colorado State Senator Iman Jodeh, another pro-Palestine lawmaker

Adams was elected to the Boulder City Council in 2023, and quickly made a name for herself soon after the brutal October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

At a city council meeting a month after the attacks, Adams declared that the Boulder City Council had ‘blood on our hands’, a moment that led the Boulder Daily Camera to share an op-ed condemning her ‘extremely offensive’ remarks.

The op-ed further alleged that Adams was invoking imagery from the 2000 Ramallah lynching, where two Israeli army reservists were killed by Palestinian militants before the killers displayed their blood-stained hands from a window.

Footage of Adams’ remarks went viral as she quickly denied ever saying the council had ‘blood on our hands’ despite it being video recorded.

On the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, Adams again invited backlash by sharing social media posts from ‘Within Our Lifetime’, a pro-Palestine organization accused of anti-Semitism.

Her post called on protestors to ‘flood’ New York City, a phrase that has been alleged to support Hamas’ framing of the October 7 attacks as the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood.’

On the one-year anniversary of October 7, Adams again invited backlash by sharing social media posts from ‘Within Our Lifetime’, a pro-Palestine organization accused of anti-Semitism. The post above was alleged to support Hamas’ framing of the October 7 attacks as the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’

Adams has also been accused of sharing anti-Semitic Instagram posts branding Israelis ‘mobs of settlers’ carrying out a ‘pogrom’ on Palestinians

In another story post soon after, she shared a call to release Palestinian prisoners in Israel that included a picture of a man wearing a Hamas headband

Adams also shared a Facebook video calling to ‘stop Zionist infiltration of US govt and media’, which she captioned ‘don’t look away’

Despite facing backlash for the post, Adams continued sharing anti-Israel posts to her social media, such as sharing a story in February calling Israelis ‘mobs of settlers’ carrying out a ‘pogrom’ on Palestinians.

In another story post soon after, she shared a call to release Palestinian prisoners in Israel that included a picture of a man wearing a Hamas headband, and also shared a Facebook video calling to ‘stop Zionist infiltration of US govt and media.’

Adams insists she does not condone violence ‘of any kind’

That same month, Adams was sharply criticized in the city council for proposing a declaration condemning Muslim hate, which included at least seven references to Jewish people.

The declaration followed the failure to co-create a joint Anti-Semitism and Anti-Muslim hate declaration.

Her resolution appeared to wade into the origins of the Israeli state, declaring that ‘Muslim and Arab share a Semitic heritage with Jewish residents’ in the region.

Adams’ resolution was rejected by the city council because of its language, with the hearing taking it up held virtually at the time because Boulder City Council meetings kept being disrupted by pro-Palestine protests.

Earlier this year, Adams was also investigated by the council after residents filed an ethics complaint accusing her of blocking several Jewish constituents from her social media.

Adams also allegedly blocked a Jewish resident from joining her book club, but the councilwoman was cleared of any wrongdoing after it was determined that she was acting in a private capacity and not as a legislator.

Adams has faced several controversies in her time in the city council, including seeing her resolution condemning Muslim hate shot down because it made at least seven references to Jewish people

Adams is now facing a fresh wave of criticism on social media following the terror attack on Sunday, where suspect Mohamed Soliman, 45, (pictured) allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at Jewish demonstrator

Adams (lower right) seen with a delegation from Nablus, Palestine, a city twinned with Boulder, Colorado, in September 2024. Residents have called for Adams to be removed as the city’s liaison over her anti-Israel social media posts

The councilwoman re-shared a condemnation of Sunday’s attack from Colorado State Senator Iman Jodeh, a fellow pro-Palestine lawmaker

In the wake of the latest attack, however, the councilmember offered a show of unity.

‘I condemn any form of violence in our community and around the world. Violence never brings peace! Terror belongs NOWHERE ever!!’ she wrote on LinkedIn.

‘I pray incident brings us together and not pull us further apart. Let us build bridges back to our hearts and ensure safety of all people.’

The level of pro-Palestinian protests in Boulder, and in particular at UC Boulder’s campus, led the city council to look into supporting a ceasefire resolution in the Israel-Hamas war.

But Adams was one of just two councilmembers who supported the resolution.

Her fellow councilmembers and the city’s mayor voting against it for being irrelevant to the Midwest city council.

The growing controversy in Boulder saw the Boulder Jewish News publish a rebuke of Adams just two days before the shocking terrorist attack on Sunday.

It slammed her for ‘amplifying narratives that demonize Israel.’

The letter, written by ‘concerned Jewish resident’ Aaron Brooks, echoed calls for Adams to be removed as the city’s liaison with Nablus, saying her social media posts ‘reflect radical activism.’

‘This isn’t new behavior, and it isn’t isolated. It’s part of a pattern that includes blocking Jewish constituents, misrepresenting her past conduct, and publicly praising those who have disrupted council meetings for over a year now,’ the letter read.

‘Let’s be clear: this kind of conduct from an elected official directly contributes to the toxic environment we’re seeing both inside and outside city hall. And it cannot go unchecked.’