Socialist Colorado candidate blames Israel for 'putting Jewish people in great danger'
Socialist Colorado congressional candidate Melat Kiros blamed Israel’s activity in the Middle East for inspiring attacks on Jewish people in other countries during an interview on Wednesday.
Kiros is part of a wave of anti-Israel, far-left candidates gaining popularity in the Democratic Party. She won her primary in her Denver-area district this week, ousting longtime incumbent Diana Degette after far-left candidates won their primaries in New York last month.
Colorado Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Weiser recently condemned her hesitance to answer whether a deadly attack on a pro-Israel rally in Boulder last year could be described as antisemitic, something a 9News host brought up to Kiros earlier this week.
"I just spoke with Attorney General Phil Weiser, who won the Democratic primary for governor last night. He is very likely to be Colorado's next governor in the same way that you are very likely to be a member of the Colorado congressional delegation come next year," the host noted.
"He has some real concerns about things that you have said about Israel and, in particular, about the firebombing of Jewish people in Boulder, and he told me that he would like to sit down and have a conversation with you so that you can hear where he's coming from and he can hear where you're coming from. Are you open to that?"
"Absolutely," she said to the prospect of having a conversation with Weiser. "You know, at the end of the day, what happened in Boulder was a horrific attack on a group of Jewish people that were peacefully protesting, and we are seeing that the actions of Israel are putting Jewish people in great danger. And the hate and the antisemitism that's rising as a result of it is one that I have every intention of prioritizing and combating.
"I really look forward to sitting down with Phil Weiser to figure out how we can work together to combat that hate."
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In the aforementioned interview, Kiros had said of the convicted bomber, "I don't know what was in the heart of the perpetrator. All I know is that he went and attacked innocent people because of what they might have believed, and I don't even know what the people that were at that protest believed, too. In fact, most of them were probably just there to, you know, ask that the people who were kidnapped during Oct. 7 be returned home to their families. That's not a political statement in and of itself."
The attack by Mohamed Soliman happened June 1, 2025, targeting a pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder. Eighty-two-year-old Karen Diamond was killed, and about a dozen others were injured.
Soliman appeared to disguise himself as a gardener before springing into action, hurling two flaming projectiles at demonstrators, according to prosecutors.
He pleaded guilty in May to state charges, including murder, and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Soliman expressed regret for his crime and even said he deserved the death penalty, The New York Times reported. He denied being motivated by hatred of Jews but launched into what the Times called a "rambling diatribe against Zionism, which he described as 'the enemy.'"
He could still face the death penalty on federal hate crime charges.
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Kiros made her opposition to Israel a centerpiece of her successful primary campaign. In her victory speech after clinching the nomination, she said one of her chief goals was to "end the genocide in Palestine."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Kiros campaign for comment.
Fox News' Lindsay Kornick and Robert McGreevy contributed to this report.