Who Killed Karen Diamond?
A peaceful walk turned deadly — Holocaust survivor Karen Diamond killed in terror attack.
Adam Starzynski
Aug 21, 2025 - 12:11 PM
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Karen Diamond was 82 years old. She was Jewish, American, and a Holocaust survivor. On the afternoon of June 1 in Boulder, Colorado, she joined a peaceful walk to remember Israelis still held hostage since October 7, 2023.
That walk ended in fire.
The Boulder Attack
A man hurled Molotov cocktails at the group, and a makeshift flamethrower constructed from a garden sprayer filled with gasoline. Witnesses say he shouted "Free Palestine" while attacking. Prosecutors have listed 29 victims, including 13 who were physically injured. Karen Diamond fought for her life for four weeks. She did not make it.
Authorities say the suspect is a 45-year-old Egyptian national, Muhammad Sabri Soliman. He entered the United States on a tourist visa in August 2022, illegally overstayed after it expired in 2023, applied for asylum, and remained. According to investigators, he had planned the attack for a year, saying his aim was to “kill all Zionist people.” Police found 16 unexploded Molotov cocktails at the scene.
The FBI says the incident is being treated as a “targeted terror attack.”
The Media Climate
Since October 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents in America have surged to levels unseen in decades. The Anti-Defamation League reports thousands of cases of harassment, vandalism, and violence. The language of “anti-Zionism” often serves as camouflage.
The pattern is unmistakable. A Jewish American man, Paul Kessler, died after being struck during dueling protests. Jewish students have faced intimidation at universities like Columbia. Jewish-owned shops have been vandalised. Israeli diplomats and staffers abroad have been murdered in attacks openly celebrated online.
This climate matters. It sets the stage and normalizes the idea that Jews are fair game. It turns a walk of remembrance into a battlefield. But hatred does not spread in a vacuum. A steady stream of distorted coverage has painted Israel as uniquely evil while softening or erasing the crimes of Hamas.
Consider the Gaza hospital blast that was misreported in the crucial first hours. Or the way celebrity megaphones casually compare the Jewish state to Nazi Germany. These stories and slogans reach millions of screens with a simple message: Israel is the villain. Those who stand with Israel are complicit. Jews who refuse to disavow Israel are legitimate targets.
When media frames reinforce hatred, they don’t just misinform. They make violence feel justified.
A System That Failed
Immigration policy also played a role. Soliman overstayed a visa, filed an asylum claim without merit, and remained in legal limbo. In that limbo, according to police, he planned for a year to burn Jews alive.
This was not inevitable. Border and asylum policy is not an abstraction. It is a public-safety choice. When the system fails, the cost is counted in blood.
So who killed Karen Diamond? The attacker lit the fire, a culture of antisemitism supplied the oxygen, media narratives fanned the flames, and policy failures gave him time to prepare. Was it the man who struck, the climate that made Jews into targets, or the system that looked away?
The answer is all of the above. Her death exposes what happens when hatred is excused, when misinformation goes unchallenged, and when immigration law is treated as optional. Karen Diamond’s life demands more than mourning. It demands change.
