Colorado’s elected officials remained largely silent after the CU Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine chapter posted a statement supporting the perpetrator of a deadly antisemitic firebombing on the attack’s one-year anniversary.

“Today, Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine publishes this statement in support of Mohamed’s decisive act of resistance against a genocidal global order,” Boulder SJP — which is an unsanctioned campus group — wrote Monday in a since-deleted Instagram post. “We stand with him.” 

Last June, Mohamed Soliman attacked a “Run For Their Lives” march — held in solidarity with Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas — on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall using Molotov cocktails. The attack killed 82-year-old Karen Diamond and injured a dozen others. Soliman pled guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. 

SJP praised Soliman for taking “direct action against one manifestation of the zionist death cult that we have allowed to fester in our city.” The group called his attack “the only sane response available to a rational human being confronted with the normalization of genocide.”

In a statement to Jewish Insider, Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO) condemned SJP’s statement as “utterly deplorable.” 

“To not only justify but praise a terrorist who murdered an elderly woman and left other innocent victims suffering from severe second- and third-degree burns is beyond reprehensible. How can members of the Jewish community ever feel safe living, working, worshiping, or attending school in our country when individuals openly celebrate acts of antisemitic violence?” said Evans, who is running for reelection in a battleground district. 

“Antisemitism is never acceptable. It must be condemned wherever it exists, regardless of the perpetrator or political cause. I urge the Boulder Police Department and the University of Colorado Boulder to take these threats and rhetoric seriously before more lives are put at risk,” he continued.  

Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO) and Jeff Crank (R-CO) both condemned the attack in statements to JI on Tuesday, but neither addressed the SJP statement directly.  

Crow said, “The Boulder attack was a horrifying act of hate that every American must condemn. We must reject antisemitism and all senseless acts of violence.” In the aftermath of the attack, Crow voted for a resolution condemning it and reaffirming a commitment to combat the rise in antisemitism.

Crank said, “The attack on our Jewish community a year ago in Boulder was horrific and the terrorist who committed this crime must be brought to justice under the fullest extent of the law.”

Other members of Colorado’s congressional delegation, including Democrats Diana Degette, Brittany Pettersen and Joe Neguse and Republicans Jeff Hurd and Lauren Boebert, did not respond to requests for comments from JI. Neguse represents the area where the attack occurred. 

Melat Kiros, a democratic socialist running to unseat Degette, did not respond to a request for comment. 

Neither of Colorado’s Democratic senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, responded to requests for comment. Bennet is running for governor to succeed the term-limited Jared Polis, facing a primary challenge from state Attorney General Phil Weiser — who also did not respond to a request for comment. In the wake of the gubernatorial race, Crow and Neguse are considered leading contenders for Bennet’s Senate seat. Julie Gonzalez, a DSA-backed Colorado state senator running to replace Hickenlooper, also did not respond to a request for comment. 

The SJP statement received condemnation from Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League and J Street.  

“The content of the post is beyond reprehensible. It is so detached from basic facts, human decency and reality that it would be difficult to take seriously if its message were not so dangerous,” the ADL wrote on X. 

J Street wrote, “When violence against Jews is openly celebrated, it is not activism. It is antisemitic incitement.”