Mohamed Soliman, an illegal alien resident in El Paso, Texas, and originally from Egyot, used a home-made flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to set 12 Jews on fire Sunday afternoon in Boulder, Colorado.
One victim was a Holocaust survivor.
Soliman targeted the weekly Sunday silent march by members of the Jewish community in Boulder held to remember the hostages still kidnapped in Gaza.
Soliman yelled “free Palestine” and claimed the Coloradan Jews were “burning my people.”
According to media reports, Solimon told law enforcement including Boulder city police and FBI agents he had planned the atrocity for about one year and was ready to do it again. He said he wanted to kill all Zionists. He travelled from El Paso to carry out the attack. According to his possibly counterfeit Texas driver’s license he is 45 and was born in December of 1979. One person close to the investigation said Solimon admitted he planned this sort of attack earlier but wanted to wait for his daughter’s high school graduation. He reportedly has a wife and five children living in the United States. Federal officials say the entire will family will be deported to Egypt while the father stands trial and faces a possible life sentence in the US.
One of the burn victims is in critical condition in hospital. Other victims are described as having slight to sever burns.
The attack took place outside the courtbhouse building on a pedestrian mall in central Boulder. The courthouse was festooned with a transgender rainbow flag for Pride Month, which kicked off June 1. Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, also began Sunday evening.
Solimon caught himself on fire and removed his shirt, according to witnesses. Regular attendees of the silent march said last Sunday’s march had about 30 participants which was a fairly average number. They’ve been holding the march vigils since Hamas kidnapped around 250 people, mainly Israelis, on October 7, 2023. Solimon told investigators he initially sought a firearm to kill Jews in Colorado, but was unable to pass the background check to purchase one because he was an illegal alien in the United States.
Attorney general Pam Bondi said the Department of Justice would pursue federal terrorist charges against the illegal alien. He has already been charged with 16 counts of attempted murder and a federal hate crime statute. The hate crime statute is usually used as an extenuating circumstance during sentencing in combination with another crime. In the case of attempted murder the federal hate crime charge itself can result in a maximum life sentence in a federal prison.
The word Holocaust comes from the Greek and means consumption by fire, later used as a translation of Hebrew texts describing the burnt offering at the Temple. The Colorado incident recalls the mass murder of the Jews of Oedda during World War II when over a hundred Jews were herded into a confined area, sprayed with gasoline and set alight.