Boulder Terror Attack: A Horrific Act That Betrays the Palestinian Cause

Boulder, CO – A “beautiful Sunday afternoon” on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall descended into unimaginable horror when a man, reportedly yelling “Free Palestine,” unleashed a fiery attack on a peaceful demonstration supporting Israeli hostages. The assault, utilizing Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower, injured eight people, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, and has now tragically claimed the life of at least one victim. The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is in custody, booked on charges including first-degree murder, as federal and local authorities investigate this as an act of terrorism and a hate crime.

The immediate, visceral reaction to such barbarity is one of shock, grief, and condemnation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly labeled it a “vicious terror attack” against Jews. U.S. leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have denounced it as starkly antisemitic. And indeed, an attack on a gathering for Israeli hostages, on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, by an individual reportedly espousing pro-Palestinian slogans, points to a clear and despicable targeting. This incident, chillingly echoing the recent murders of Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., and a fire at Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence, fuels a narrative of escalating, ideologically motivated violence against Jewish individuals and institutions in America.

The desire for swift justice for the victims and a thorough investigation into the perpetrator and any potential network is absolute. Such acts of terror must be unequivocally condemned and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Yet, beyond the immediate horror and the necessary law enforcement response, lies a deeply troubling consequence that must be confronted by those who genuinely seek justice and peace for Palestinians. Acts like the Boulder attack, purportedly committed in the name of “Free Palestine,” do absolutely nothing to advance that cause. In fact, they achieve the precise opposite.

Incidents like this only create more sympathy in the U.S. for Israel. They horrify the American public, understandably generating empathy for the victims and, by extension, often for the Israeli state in its broader conflict. They make it exponentially more difficult for nuanced conversations about the legitimate rights and suffering of the Palestinian people to gain traction. How can one effectively advocate for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, or critique alleged Israeli war crimes, when the counter-narrative is so powerfully, so tragically, handed to opponents by such acts of indiscriminate violence against civilians on American soil?

When people here are being burned, when a Holocaust survivor is among the injured, the complexities of the Middle East conflict are, for many, understandably reduced to a visceral reaction against the apparent savagery of those claiming to act for Palestine. The urgent pleas of Palestinian-American and Arab-American advocacy groups, who have swiftly and strongly condemned the Boulder attack and all forms of violence, risk being drowned out. These groups rightly fear that such atrocities will be exploited to fuel Islamophobia, anti-Arab bigotry, and to unjustly conflate the Palestinian people’s struggle for self-determination with terrorism.

This is the bitter harvest of such violence: it provides ammunition for those who wish to demonize an entire people and dismiss their legitimate grievances. It allows the narrative to be shifted away from the difficult questions about settlements, occupation, and the devastating toll of the war in Gaza, towards a simpler, more emotionally resonant story of defending civilization against barbarism. It makes people overlook the very war crimes and injustices that may fuel the desperation and rage twisted into such horrific acts by individuals like Soliman.

The Felonious Punk administration, already under scrutiny for its approach to civil liberties and its rhetoric on Middle East politics, will undoubtedly seize upon this. We’ve already seen White House official Stephen Miller (fictionalized) attempt to politicize the suspect’s alleged immigration status, deflecting from the act itself towards a partisan agenda. This is how such tragedies are co-opted.

The path to a just resolution for Palestinians is through international law, diplomacy, non-violent resistance, and building global solidarity based on shared humanity and a commitment to universal rights. Terrorism, especially when it targets civilians in countries far removed from the conflict’s epicenter, is a betrayal of that path. It alienates potential allies, strengthens the resolve of opponents, and ultimately, makes the prospect of a free and peaceful Palestine more distant.

The victims in Boulder and those killed and injured in Washington, D.C., are the immediate casualties. But another casualty is the hope for a more informed, empathetic American public discourse about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This horrific act doesn’t just burn bodies; it burns bridges of understanding and fuels the very cycle of hate it purports to oppose.