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Suspect in Colorado Antisemitic Firebombing Faces 28 Attempted Murder Counts
A Boulder police officer patrols with a bomb smelling dog beside a makeshift memorial outside the Boulder Courthouse, days after an attack that injured multiple people in Boulder, Colorado, US, June 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mark Makela
The man accused of fire–bombing a Colorado march by people who wanted to raise awareness of Israeli hostages in Gaza was charged in state court on Thursday with attempted murder and other crimes, as those he targeted vowed to carry on their efforts.
If he is convicted, state prosecutors said Egyptian citizen Mohamed Soliman, 45, faces well over 600 years in prison for 28 attempted murder charges. There were 118 counts against him in total, including assault, use of incendiary devices, and animal cruelty for the injury of a dog.
Soliman also faces federal hate crimes charges that carry a life sentence if he is convicted. He is scheduled to appear in federal court on Friday.
Soliman wore orange prison clothing at Thursday’s state hearing in a courtroom inside the Boulder County jail. He appeared behind thick glass, and his hands and feet were shackled.
Judge Nancy Woodruff Salomone asked if he could hear her and if he agreed to his next court date, set for July 15. Soliman nodded affirmatively in response to both questions and made no other comments or gestures. He was not asked to enter a plea.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said three victims from Sunday’s attack remained in the hospital. Prosecutors said there were 15 victims in total, ranging in age from 25 to 88, in the attack, of whom 10 had injuries.
The Boulder public defender’s office, listed in court documents as representing Soliman, did not respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors say that Soliman tossed Molotov cocktails and yelled “Free Palestine” at people taking part in the walk organized by Run for Their Lives, an organization devoted to drawing attention to the hostages seized during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Soliman entered the US on a tourist visa in 2022 and recently lived in Colorado Springs. Federal officials say he overstayed that tourist visa and his work permit had expired, so he was in the country illegally.
His family, including his wife, two teenagers and three younger children, was taken into custody on Tuesday and may be deported, though a federal judge on Wednesday blocked their immediate removal.
The attack was the latest act of violence aimed at Jewish Americans amid Israel’s escalating military offensive in Gaza. It followed the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy aides outside Washington’s Capital Jewish Museum last month.
WALK ON
Run for Their Lives global coordinator Shira Weiss said the Boulder attack had stunned her organization, which has 230 chapters around the globe and says it is apolitical.
“This is so sad that we were trying to do something positive and something good, and this horrible thing happened,” she said.
Following the attack, Weiss asked local chapters to pause their weekly walks, but overwhelmingly heard that people wanted to carry on.
About 80 percent of chapters will hold their scheduled walks this weekend including in Boulder on Sunday. That will coincide with the city’s 30th annual Jewish festival, which organizers said would go on with heightened security measures and a focus on Run for Their Lives.
Weiss has received 20 inquiries about starting new chapters since the attack in Boulder, and has also seen an increase in the number of people wanting to walk with existing groups.
Maya Bajayo, organizer for the Denver chapter of Run for Their Lives, said she expects all 50 members of her group to join the Boulder chapter on its Sunday walk.
The post Suspect in Colorado Antisemitic Firebombing Faces 28 Attempted Murder Counts first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.