A radical campus group at the University of Colorado Boulder is openly honoring the terrorist who burned an elderly Jewish woman alive — and calling his firebomb attack the “only sane response” to pro-Israel speech.^[1][2][3]

Story Snapshot

• Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine praised convicted firebomber Mohamed Soliman as a hero and “rational.”^[1][2][3]
• The group called his deadly attack “direct action” against a “Zionist death cult” and demanded his release from prison.^[1][2]
• The University of Colorado Boulder condemned the post as “abhorrent” and stressed SJP is not an official student group.^[3][4]
• The rally Soliman attacked was a peaceful event supporting hostages, where an 82-year-old woman was killed and many were burned.^[1][2]

Campus Group Celebrates Deadly Firebombing

Students for Justice in Palestine in Boulder used the one-year anniversary of the Pearl Street firebombing to praise the man who carried it out.^[1][2] Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national, attacked a peaceful “Run for Their Lives” rally supporting Israeli hostages with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower, killing 82-year-old Karen Diamond and burning more than a dozen others.^[1][2][3] Instead of mourning the victim, Boulder SJP described his assault as a “decisive act of resistance” and “chickens coming home to roost.”^[2][3]

On its website and social media, the group claimed Soliman “took direct action against one manifestation of the Zionist death cult” and “hurled a molotov cocktail into the heart of the Run for Their Lives march.”^[2] They framed the marchers as “colonists” and the event itself as an act that “celebrates genocide,” turning innocent citizens into targets simply for gathering in support of Israel.^[2] Their statement praised Soliman for refusing “the comfortable position of the grateful immigrant” and for choosing confrontation with a “violent system” instead of obeying American law.^[2][3]

From Terrorist Attack to “Only Sane Response”

Boulder SJP went even further by claiming that “Mohamed chose the only sane response available to a rational human being confronted with the normalization of genocide.”^[2][3] They argued there is “no meaningful difference between speech and force,” a campus-born idea that treats words as violence and uses that belief to excuse real physical attacks.^[16][19] By calling the peaceful rally “Zionist violence,” they tried to turn moral language upside down, branding political opponents as “war criminals” without offering any proof of actual crimes or violence by the victims.^[2]

The group demanded Soliman’s release from prison and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, tying his prosecution to broader claims of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias after the September 11 attacks.^[1][2] In reality, Soliman pleaded guilty to 101 charges, including first-degree murder, and admitted he spent a year plotting to kill “all Zionist people.”^[2] That admission shows careful planning and targeted terror, not a sudden “sane response” to anything happening at the rally.^[2] His sentence — life plus thousands of years — reflects the brutal harm done to an elderly woman and dozens of peaceful demonstrators.^[2]

University, Community, and National Context

The University of Colorado Boulder responded with a formal statement denouncing the SJP post as “abhorrent” and rejecting any glorification of violence or antisemitism.^[4] The university stressed that Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine is not a recognized student organization and that discrimination and harassment are banned under campus policies.^[4] Jewish community groups and national outlets likewise described the statement as “vile praise” for an antisemitic terror attack, underscoring how far outside normal civic values the group’s rhetoric has moved.^[1][3]

**Facts on the event:**

June 1, 2025: Mohamed Sabry Soliman (Egyptian national) attacked a peaceful "Run for Their Lives" rally in Boulder, CO, for Israeli hostages held by Hamas. He used Molotov cocktails and a flamethrower, killing 82-year-old Karen Diamond (Jewish community…

— Grok (@grok) June 27, 2026

This episode fits into a wider pattern of campus extremism where small but loud groups frame violent attacks as “legitimate resistance” or “direct action” against supposed genocide.^[16] Research on political violence shows that, overall, left-wing extremists commit fewer and less deadly attacks than right-wing or Islamist extremists, yet when left-wing violence does occur, it is often justified as defensive action against a “genocidal system.”^[16] The idea that “words are violence,” now common on many campuses, blurs the line between speech and force — and, as in Boulder, can be used to morally excuse real bloodshed.^[16][19]

What It Means for Conservatives Watching the Campus Crisis

For many readers, this story captures what feels broken in higher education today. A radical group at a major public university used woke rhetoric about “colonists” and “genocide” to praise a man who burned an American grandmother to death for attending a rally.^[1][2] That same rhetoric paints Jewish community members and Israel supporters as less than human, making violence against them sound noble instead of evil.^[1][2] When speech is treated as the same as force, peaceful assembly and advocacy get recast as targets for attack.

At the same time, the university’s clear condemnation shows there are still lines that even liberal administrations will not cross.^[4] But the fact that this statement existed at all — and that elected officials in Colorado were largely silent — is a warning sign for everyone who cares about basic safety, religious freedom, and the rule of law.^[3] If campus groups can celebrate terrorism in moral language without swift, serious consequences, political violence risks becoming just another tool in our public life.^[18] That trend threatens not only Jewish communities, but the constitutional rights of all Americans who speak, assemble, and worship in public.^[18]

Sources:

[1] Web – University of Colorado, Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine …

[2] Web – Colorado SJP praises Boulder firebomb terrorist on anniversary of …

[3] Web – One Year After Deadly Firebombing, Boulder SJP Celebrates Attack …

[4] Web – Terror anniversary in Boulder, Colo., marked by observance for …

[16] Web – UMD-Led Study Shows Disparities in Violence Among Extremist …

[18] Web – [PDF] Strategies to counter hate, extremism, and violence on campus

[19] Web – [PDF] The Right-Wing Attacks on Higher Education: An Analysis of … – …