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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

June 3, 2025

Is the American Dream Still Alive for the Los Angeles Jewish Community?

Commentary, Opinion /

As the late comedian George Carlin once said, “It’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.” For the Los Angeles Jewish community, this question might feel like an invitation to a heated debate over bagels and lox at Nate and Al’s on a Sunday morning where the answer is less finite than a simple “yes” or a “no” but rather something along the lines of “it’s complicated.” The American Dream — a mythical concept that has lured millions of immigrants to our shores in search of a better tomorrow — has inspired generations to believe in a land of opportunity where hard work pays off and tomorrow promises to be better than today. But in the glittering hills and sprawling urban expanse of Los Angeles, where cultural vibrancy meets economic stratification, the answer is more nuanced than binary data might indicate.

For much of the 20th century, the Jewish community in Los Angeles epitomized the promise of the American Dream. Immigrants, such as my grandparents who were Holocaust survivors, arrived several years after the war with little more than a suitcase and a prayer of hope.  From Boyle Heights to Beverly Hills, they built businesses, launched careers in Hollywood, and established institutions that became cornerstones of Jewish life. Synagogues, schools, and cultural centers sprouted, each a testament to the community’s resilience and upward trajectory. 

Yet, as we fast-forward to the modern day, cracks in this golden narrative have begun to show. Rising costs of living, an ever-widening wealth gap and shifts in societal values have posed significant challenges. For those who have been able to profit from the generational wealth that has characterized American dynastic wealth building across generations, the American Dream feels just as vibrant today as it did decades ago. For others, the golden era of Los Angeles seems more like a distant memory, dulled by economic pressures and existential uncertainties.

Bankrate, Newsweek and the National Association of Realtors consistently rank Los Angeles as one of the most expensive cities in the United States. From housing to healthcare, the cost of living feels less like an inconvenient hurdle and more like a stone wall for many families. For members of the Jewish community, these financial pressures are exacerbated by the cost of maintaining a distinctly Jewish lifestyle. Day school tuition, synagogue membership, and kosher food all seem to be gatekept by high financial barriers to entry, yet all are integral to fostering a sense of identity and continuity. 

For instance, the dream of owning a home — a cornerstone of the American Dream — has become increasingly unattainable with a household income of $220,000 required to buy the median priced home of close to 1 million dollars yet the median household income is hovering significantly below at around $87K. Neighborhoods like Pico-Robertson, known for their vibrant Jewish life, are now synonymous with skyrocketing rent and prohibitive real estate prices, given the captive audience of observant families needing to live in a communal setting that is walking distance to houses of worship. Young families often find themselves wondering whether they can afford to stay in the city that once felt like the promised land for their parents and grandparents. 

However, through periods of natural disasters and economic uncertainties, the Los Angeles Jewish community has proven to be remarkably cohesive and resourceful. For every challenge the American Dream faces, there is a counterpoint of ingenuity and determination. Start-ups flourish, nonprofits thrive and Hollywood continues to serve as a beacon of Jewish creativity and influence. Organizations like the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Bet Tzedek, Jewish Free Loan Association and the USC Casden Institute work tirelessly to provide resources, scholarships, and support systems that help families navigate the complexities of life when it never seems to go according to plan.

Perhaps the most compelling argument isn’t whether the American Dream is dead for our historic Jewish community, but whether it’s evolving. For many within the Los Angeles Jewish community, out of necessity the dream has shifted its focus. Given the ever-growing barriers to entry, the dream is now less about material prosperity and more about cultural preservation, spiritual fulfillment, and social justice. In a city as diverse and dynamic as Los Angeles, the Jewish community has embraced its role as both a participant in and a shaper of the broader cultural narrative. Young Jewish Angelenos are increasingly drawn to careers and causes that prioritize making a difference over making a fortune. 

Sustainability initiatives, interfaith dialogue as evidenced by the incredible work of Dr. Saba Soomekh at the American Jewish Committee and social activism have become as much a part of the communal fabric as Shabbat dinners and Passover Seders. The American Dream, in this context, isn’t dead — it’s just wearing a new outfit: a Purim costume of sorts setting the stage for another chapter of Jewish continuity and survival in the face of uncertainty from all angles. 

In essence, to return to the question of the moment of whether the American Dream is dead for the Los Angeles Jewish community, the answer, like our city itself, is layered and complex. For some, the dream is alive and well, a testament to hard work and the benefit of generational wealth. For others, it feels like a relic, obscured by the harsh realities of modern life. 

But perhaps the real takeaway is that the American Dream isn’t a static concept — it’s a living, breathing idea, one that evolves with each generation. In Los Angeles, a city that thrives on reinvention, the Jewish community has shown that dreams may bend, but they rarely break. Whether through creativity, resilience or sheer chutzpah, this community continues to navigate the challenges of the present while holding onto the collective prayer of hope that has sustained us through centuries. 

Lisa Ansell Schneider is the Associate Director of the USC Casden Institute and Lecturer of Hebrew Language at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Los Angeles.

Is the American Dream Still Alive for the Los Angeles Jewish Community? Read More »

Media Lie, Jews Die

Commentary, Featured, Opinion /

Now they’re setting Jews on fire.

On Sunday afternoon a small group of mostly elderly Jews marched peacefully in Boulder, Colorado to show their support for the innocents being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. The group has done this every week. They walk along a pedestrian mall toward the courthouse, say the names of the hostages, and sometimes sing “Hatikva.” Except this week, a man screaming “Free Palestine” and “Zionists deserve to die” hurled two Molotov cocktails at them. The tranquil scene became one of carnage, screams and terror. Twelve people were injured, at least one very seriously. One of the victims is an 88-year-old woman who survived the Holocaust, only for her life to be threatened again by antisemitic violence in America.

It feels so terrifyingly familiar. A little over a week ago, a leftist reportedly uttered the same words — “Free Palestine” — as he murdered a young couple emerging from a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. A few weeks before that, a man named Cody Balmer allegedly set fire to Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home — while the Jewish governor and his family slept inside — saying he was motivated by “injustices to the people of Palestine.” That’s three murderous attacks in less than two months. The “pro-Palestinian” protesters on our university campuses have got what they’ve been chanting for. The intifada is being globalized.

The man accused of the attempted murder in Boulder is an Egyptian, who was reportedly in the U.S. illegally, named Mohamed Sabry Soliman. Soliman was armed with Molotov cocktails, but his incendiary material was also helpfully supplied by the media. 

When I was a Marxist and convinced I was on the right side of history, I often wondered how simple-minded people swallowed crude, obvious forgeries like “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” — believed in them so fervently, they were incited to carry out pogroms. I couldn’t understand how anybody, however primitive and uneducated, believed the blood libel — the claim that Jews murder Christian children to use their blood for making matzah. And of course I especially couldn’t understand how so many Germans believed the hateful and clearly deranged lies the Nazis spread about the Jews — or at least accepted the claims enough to remain blithely unconcerned while six million Jews were murdered. How, I asked myself, can human beings not only allow such a thing to happen, but actively support it?

I no longer wonder. 

Murderous Jew-hatred always comes dressed in righteousness. Only the contours of the fashion change. Where once villagers informed each other in the marketplace what monstrous thing the Jews were doing, now we have the mainstream media, podcasters and social media. These bien pensants trumpet that Israel is responsible for the world’s most shocking evils, crimes that good people of conscience must oppose.  As Melanie Phillips recently observed: “To the Western liberal, for whom Zionism is racism and Israel starves babies to death, antisemitism is therefore not just the shield behind which the Jews sanitize Israel’s crimes. It’s no longer a uniquely murderous and deranged creed that all people of conscience must oppose. Horrifyingly, for the Western liberal antisemitism has become a moral obligation.”

Murderous Jew-hatred always comes dressed in righteousness. Only the contours of the fashion change. Where once villagers informed each other in the marketplace what monstrous thing the Jews were doing, now we have the mainstream media, podcasters and social media. 

Hours before the attack in Boulder, legacy media reported the latest charge: “Israel killed 31 Palestinians while delivering food.” It was horrifying, shocking, outrageous …  and totally untrue. Within a short time, Israel provided footage of the food distribution center at issue, showing that it was entirely peaceful while the massacre was supposedly taking place. The IDF also released drone footage showing what appear to be gunmen firing at civilians amassing for food elsewhere, suggesting that Palestinians may have been shot by their own leaders. But why should the media trouble itself with that story, when the one accusing Israel was so much more satisfying? The headlines about war-crazed, racist Israel remained up, and an Egyptian man in Boulder apparently decided to finally carry out the plan he’d spent a year working on, wreaking vengeance on a group of local Jews. 

“Fourteen thousand children will die of starvation in 48 hours.” “Israel is committing genocide.” “Israel kills 500 at al-Ahli hospital.” “IDF raped and killed women at al-Shifa hospital.” “Israeli forces targeted medical teams and Arabic speakers at al-Shifa Hospital.” “Israel intentionally targets women and children.” All wildly and ludicrously untrue — just as the “Protocols” is untrue, the blood libel is untrue, the Nazi claim of Jewish race contamination is untrue — but to an increasingly large number of people, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what the recipient wants and feels to be true. The false inflammatory headlines may later be quietly tweaked or corrected, but it won’t matter. What will remain is the outraged quivering finger — “The Jews did it!” — and the conviction about who must pay.

In a chilling and erudite piece for the Free Press, historian Jeffrey Herf predicts that these latest murderous attacks will excite and stimulate others to further attacks — much as 50 years ago, the radical Weathermen spurred other leftists to embrace violence, if “only” vicariously. The left’s demonization of Israel and Zionism then entered academia and festered for decades. Quoting Paul Berman, Herf notes that after the wave of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians in 2000 by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, “the popularity of the Palestinian cause did not collapse. It increased.” Berman summarized: “There was, in short, an idea that each new act of murder and suicide testified to how oppressive were the Israelis. Palestinian terror, in this view, was the measure of Israeli guilt.”

With the recent violence against Jews, and defenders of Israel, there’s a sense of watching the needle move — of America lurching toward a lethal and barbaric place. But we still have laws, and police, and rights, and voices we can raise. And so we must. 

The explosion of antisemitism after Oct. 7 reflects the triumph of this view, combined with relief that long-festering Jew-hatred can finally be released. With the recent violence against Jews, and defenders of Israel, there’s a sense of watching the needle move — of America lurching toward a lethal and barbaric place. But we still have laws, and police, and rights and voices we can raise. And so we must.

Kathleen Hayes is the author of ”Antisemitism and the Left: A Memoir.”

Media Lie, Jews Die Read More »

The Invented Jew and the Real Bullet

Commentary, Opinion /

“If the Jew did not exist, the Antisemite would invent him.”

This particular insight from the French existentialist Jean Paul Sartre takes on a haunting relevance these days, especially in the bleak aftermath of the murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim in Washington, D.C. Their killer, Elias Rodriguez, didn’t shoot them because they were Jewish. He shot them because he thought they were Jewish, and what they represented.

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were peace-loving people focused on dialogue and bridge building. They pursued their diplomatic work at the Israeli Embassy with glowing smiles, compassion, composure and humble confidence. Each challenge they faced was addressed mindfully, wisely and constructively, with an eye on the collective good and the pursuit of truth. Their intention to preserve democratic ideals, free society, and love for life superseded all else. They embodied the core Zionist values of personal responsibility and perseverance, building up rather than tearing down—the ultimate form of construction.

Rodriguez did not kill this beautiful couple in spite of their values, but because of them. His messages and online posts reveal a deeply disturbed worldview shaped by anti-Zionist libels and radical ideology—expressing a hatred for “white people,” accusing Israel of genocide, and romanticizing death. His virulent antisemitism, wish for Israel’s destruction, and admiration for Aaron Bushnell—who self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy in D.C.—make this clear. Rodriguez had been indoctrinated into a warped vision of social justice that framed violence as virtue. He was affiliated with Unity of Fields, formerly Palestine Action U.S., a group that openly supports Hamas’s death cult.

The Anti-Defamation League notes that Unity of Fields is a “direct action network” that “engages in and promotes aggressive, targeted protests and the defacement of property belonging to Jewish and non-Jewish organizations and individuals it considers supportive of Israel or Zionism or ‘complicit’ in Israel’s alleged actions.”

To Rodriguez, “the Jew” was not a person, but a symbol—an invention onto which he projected extremism and hatred. His radical ideology and fury is what pulled the trigger on my dear friend Yaron Lischinsky, a German-born Messianic Christian who made aliyah, and his American Jewish girlfriend Sarah Milgrim. This lovely couple, in the prime of their lives, were targets not for who they were, but for what they represented in the eyes of a man consumed by hateful dogma.

By some token of warped imagination, Rodriguez believed that taking the lives of attendees of an American Jewish Committee (AJC) event about importing humanitarian aid to Gaza and Syria would help alleviate the Palestinian crisis. This is the very delusion of the “Free Palestine movement”: First name calling, then harassing, and now murdering the innocent in the name of Gaza does nothing to help Palestinians; it only harms.

The Washington Post’s reporting on the tragedy included the subheadline, “The killings of two Israeli Embassy staffers amplify the confusion felt since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks about where Jews belong.” That assessment is misguided. The killings of two Israeli Embassy staffers in the United States do not amplify “confusion”—they sharpen the clarity that American and global Jewry must fundamentally reassess what they define as antisemitism.

Instead of concocting a politicized assessment of these events in the press, why not ask proponents of the “Free Palestine” revolution exactly what their movement is all about? Why not ask what their slogan means, if those promoting the “intifada” in the name of justice have been proven to slander and now kill people in America thousands of miles away from the war? Due diligence would find that there is nothing to be “confused” about. This was a cold-blooded murder tantamount to those of Hamas or ISIS, targeting democracy, moderation, and the very core of Jewish identity.

Today, antisemitism is commonly standardized under the 2016 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, which has been adopted by various organizations and in various countries. However, controversy over its eleven points that serve as tools for identifying antisemitism led to the creation of the 2020 Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA) and others. The nuances of these definitions may be significant, but are immaterial for the purposes of this article. That is because antisemitism needs no belaboring through such definitions any longer, nor should they be controversial. Movements under the banner of “Free Palestine” and “Globalize the Intifada” have exposed antisemitism as a deeply embedded, chimerical, shapeshifting force that now poses a direct threat to national security.

Long before any of these definitions were conceived, Russian-Polish Jewish physician Leon Pinsker correctly assessed the roots and manifestations of anti-Jewish hatred. In his 1882 essay “Auto–Emancipation,” Pinsker described animus toward Jews as “Judeophobia.” He defined it as a “psychic aberration,” a “fear of the [Jewish] ghost,” and a condition that “suffers the most excruciating pain from the wounds inflicted upon it by the fearful mob who imagine it threatens them.”

Pinsker argued that Judeophobia was a chronic social disease—irrational, deeply ingrained, and millennia old. Understanding antisemitism as a modern expression of this enduring pathology reframes it not just as historical prejudice, but as a recurring symptom of societal dysfunction that mutates with time and resists attempted cures with a new mask.

The onset of ancient polemics about Jews in Egypt or Rome set the precedent for illusions about Jews to take hold and gave future myths legitimacy. Such myths led to the belief that Jews, real or imagined, were the ultimate impediment to redemption. Today, that notion is enveloped in a new fabric. Jewish identity and Israel are cast as the ultimate barrier to liberation. Yet the irony is stark: those who claim to stand for freedom and justice while aligning with Hamas ignore that Israel—like Yaron and Sarah—embodies the very ideals of freedom and justice they seek and claim to uphold.

The scale of delusion and projection is not only hypocritical but alarmingly conspicuous. How did we get here?

The scale of delusion and projection is not only hypocritical but alarmingly conspicuous. How did we get here?

We live in a time increasingly shaped by identity politics and mental health crises. Our democratic ideals have been taken for granted, and we have let tolerance go too far. Radical ideologues—whether right-wing nationalist, far-left, or Islamist—have exploited these societal fractures and our Western freedoms to undermine our fragile liberal order.

Rodriguez and many others indoctrinated by academics, social media, or civil society organizations are ultimately united by a hatred toward Jews. Their projections onto the Jewish community and faith are a source of distraction and catharsis. Devoid of all reason, they exhibit a deep mistrust in themselves as they fail to constructively advocate for causes that they purport to champion.

Jews today are being targeted not for what they’ve done, but for what they symbolize to those who no longer discern truth from lies, construction from destruction, and reason from ideological delusion.

Sartre may have held many controversial views, but about this, he was right. The antisemite does not require a real Jew—only the idea of one. In a society losing its grip on moral clarity and truth, the perverted idea to “free Palestine” by killing Jews abroad is all it takes to carry out and justify murder.

If we truly value the classical liberal principles that underpin free societies, we must follow in the steps of Yaron and Sarah’s efforts to preserve them. Rodriguez’s chimerical image of Jewish community, faith, and national home is libelous. This is why truth must prevail above all, and why the extremist antisemitism exhibited by radicals on college campuses or those like Rodriguez can no longer be treated as a controversial idea. Movements calling for “globalizing the intifada” should be taken at their word, unambiguously condemned and confronted just as terrorism would.

Sabrina Soffer is a graduate of George Washington University.

The Invented Jew and the Real Bullet Read More »

Zionism Is an Identity, Not an Argument: Re-Examining Our Roles as Parents and Teachers

Commentary, Opinion /

Antisemitism is deadly. As German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt observed, “antisemitism almost always leads to the murder of Jews.” Some counter this hatred by starting a civil rights movement to end Jewish hatred or by taking antisemites to court. Yet, the often-unrecognized work of parents and teachers in fighting Jew-hatred is essential to tackling the crisis that allows antisemitism to flourish. 

If you are reading this and are a parent or a teacher at a Jewish school with an Israel flag displayed proudly for all to see, it should be concerning when our kids think Zionism has very little to do with them as Jews. How did this happen? Keep on reading. In talking to several students, both in public and private schools, about the recent attack and murder of two individuals at a Jewish museum in Washington D.C., a few Jewish students expressed that they believe the attack may have been motivated by politics and not antisemitism. Their evidence? The shooter’s inability to separate Judaism from Zionism as evidence that they are distinct. Their insistence that this attack was not motivated by hatred of Jews, of course, unearths a corollary conversation: what is Zionism?  

If you are reading this and are a parent or a teacher at a Jewish school with an Israeli flag displayed proudly for all to see, it should be concerning when our kids think Zionism has very little to do with them as Jews. How did this happen? 

If you ask a Jewish person to define Zionism, almost always they will say this: Zionism is the belief that Jews should have their own state in what is currently Israel, or that Zionism is a movement that celebrates the self-determination of the Jewish people to have a homeland. Focusing solely on its 19th-century roots, we continue to impart onto the younger generation that Zionism is a “political movement or belief in the idea that Jewish people deserve a state in what is currently Israel.”  

But somewhere along the way, something essential was left out: Zionism as an expression of Jewish identity. It isn’t about subscribing to a belief system or holding a particular ideology. Zionism is what moves a Jew to wear a necklace with the map of Israel, just like when they wear a Star of David. It’s why Jewish day schools or synagogues fly the Israeli flag year-round. It’s the reason Jewish kids take Birthright trips to the Jewish homeland. Zionism is the lived expression of the Jewish people’s destiny: Israel. Zion is tied to the Torah, just as Shabbat is tied to the Torah. 

The phenomenon of Jewish students who believe Zionism has very little to do with them as Jews has to be concerning to parents and our Jewish schools, and even more so to those schools who make a point of calling themselves “Zionist” schools. Elsewhere, I have written about this phenomenon, that long before Oct. 7, Jewish anti-Zionist organizations such as J Street and IfNotNow were started by Jewish individuals who attended and graduated from Jewish day schools. In sum, something is not right if a Jewish person believes Zionism has little to do with their Jewish identity. 

So, what to say to a Jewish student who believes that the attack in Washington D.C. is about Gazans dying? This: 

Regarding the notion that the shooter’s inability to separate Judaism from Zionism is evidence that they are distinct, the opposite is the case: the shooter’s conflation of the two suggests that Zionism is deeply intertwined with Judaism, not separate from it. To draw a parallel, consider a white supremacist attacking a Jew wearing a kippah because they see the kippah as a symbol of Judaism. It would be absurd to argue that their inability to separate Jewish practice (wearing a kippah) from Judaism itself means the two are unrelated. On the contrary, the attacker’s perception reflects the reality that the kippah is a visible expression of Jewish identity, just as Zionism — a movement rooted in Jewish self-determination and connection to the land of Israel through the Torah — is inseparable from the broader Jewish identity. The shooter’s conflation doesn’t prove a distinction; it underscores how Zionism is often an integral part of Jewish identity, both culturally and religiously.  

The argument that the shooter’s inability to separate Zionism from Judaism proves they are distinct falls apart under further scrutiny. Consider this: when individuals chant “Free Palestine” and then vandalize synagogues or attack Jews, they are not making a nuanced political statement — they are targeting Jews as a whole. Take, for example, the synagogues in Los Angeles that were defaced — even before Oct. 7. One of them is my own shul. Or the instance where “Free Gaza” was spray-painted on a sukkah in Manhattan, also before Oct. 7. Or why did classmates beat this Jewish boy as they yelled “F— Israel! It’s all your fault!” Or why was this Jewish student assaulted after his assailants chanted “Free Palestine”?  These acts make clear that for those committing them, Israel and Jews are inextricably linked. And while that conflation may be linked with antisemitism, it also reflects a truth: Zionism is deeply woven into Jewish identity.   

Consider why Jewish day schools across the country and in the Diaspora have an Israeli flag in their establishment. It is not to signal a position on Israel’s governance. Rather, it is to signal that Israel, much like any Jewish holiday or ritual, is core to being a Jew. It is the destiny of the Jewish people. How it is governed is a separate conversation. Zionism does not stipulate how the land shall be governed—only that the land was promised by Hashem to the Jews. Consider why droves of Jews, Jewish day schools and shuls attend the annual Israel Day Parade in Manhattan. Certainly, not because they are marching with the Likud or the Labor party. Rather, to proudly display and celebrate a core part of their identity. It is no different to Jews who wear a Star of David necklace or a map of Israel necklace—both display a part of their Judaism. Or rather, both signal to the world, “Hey, I want you to know that I am a Jew and these symbols I wear around my neck, the Star of David, the Chai, or the map of Israel—they are all a symbol of my Judaism.” 

But wait, I know what you may think, not all Jews support Zionism. In fact, there are some Jews who vocally oppose it. This is irrelevant. Most Jews in America do not observe Shabbat; most American Jews do not believe the Torah is significant to them; most American Jews do not wear a kippah. But few would disagree that demonizing Shabbat, destroying a Torah scroll, or stomping on a kippah is not an act of antisemitism. 

Further still, to those Jews who believe the attack on the couple in Washington, D.C. was motivated by political disagreement and not hatred of the Jews, know this: Antisemitism is a shapeshifting hatred. If we cannot identify the threat from all political parties, ideologies, and movements, we are in deep trouble. If I am unable to call a man who attacks a Jew after yelling “Jews will not replace us” an antisemite because I am co-opting antisemitism in order to vilify the political right, when am I able to identify harassment/ assault/ murder of a Jew as antisemitic?

I suppose in some perverted version of Holocaust revision, one could say that the Holocaust was not motivated by antisemitism but politics for after all, the issue was partly about how Jews were viewed as politically homeless (rootless cosmopolitans) and thus a threat to German nationhood. Similarly, someone could claim that Khmelnitsky’s massacres were not driven by Jew-hatred, but by political grievances over Jewish ties to the Polish nobility. I do hope our Jewish youth would reject each of these claims. 

If we only recognize antisemitism when it comes packaged in Nazi slogans like “Heil Hitler,” “judenrein,” or “Seig Heil,” but refuse to see it when someone deploys progressive language like “Zionist colonizer” or “Free Palestine” before physically attacking Jews, then we are complicit in using Jewish suffering for political ends by providing cover to antisemitism that comes from a political party or ideology we might favor. 

Finally, I want to leave you with two personal examples. The first comes from my mother’s experience when our family decided to leave the Soviet Union. One day, a coworker approached her and said, “I’m glad you’re leaving. You are all nothing but trouble. You’ve turned our workplace into a Zionist nest” (translated from Russian). In the Soviet Union, “Zionist” was a slur — a euphemism for Jew. My mother would often tell me, “Naya, when they say ‘Zionist,’ they mean ‘Jew.’ 

The second example, which only reinforces the first, is from my time living in California. I used to attend Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) events at UCLA and the Claremont Colleges, going undercover, so to speak, to observe how far antisemitic language could be pushed. At one such session, I deliberately used the word “Jew” instead of “Zionist” to make a provocative statement. The student leading the event praised my comment, and the others snapped for approval. But then she added, “Just be careful how you talk. In here, it’s a safe space and we all know ‘Jew’ is what we mean — but outside, say ‘Zionist’ instead.” 

We are at a critical inflection point in terms of how we teach our students and kids about what it means to be a Jew. We may continue to invest vast sums in fighting antisemitism through legal battles or public protests. However, the significance of a child asking about Zionism or a classroom discussion about the term should not be underestimated. And when that moment arises, avoid getting caught up in rigid definitions. Instead, seize the opportunity to explore what it means to be Jewish and why Israel is integral to our identity. In essence, align Zionist values with Jewish values.

Naya Lekht is currently the Education Editor for White Rose Magazine and a Research Fellow for the Institute for Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy. 

Zionism Is an Identity, Not an Argument: Re-Examining Our Roles as Parents and Teachers Read More »

How Trump Is Undermining Academic Excellence

Columnists /

When I started teaching economics in 1979, I began the semester by listing the industries in which the U.S. clearly led the world – computer technology, aviation, steel, automobiles, among many others. By the time I retired in 2022, that number had fallen to a precious few. Yet, those residing outside the U.S. can readily identify two particular areas where we still dominate.

The first is quality medical care. No wonder people from around the globe travel to the Cleveland Clinic, Memorial Sloan Kettering, the Mayo Clinic and the like. Many complain about inadequate healthcare access in the U.S., but would they hop on a plane to another country if they needed serious, world-class attention?

The same is true for higher education. The various global rankings agree: more than half of the world’s best universities are located in the U.S. Is anyone surprised that the president of China sent his daughter to Harvard, or that the Russian Foreign Minister’s child went to Columbia? And let’s not forget a uniquely American invention – the residential liberal arts college. Schools such as Williams and Amherst, Bowdoin and Wellesley, represent the gold standard for undergraduate instruction. 

Alas, the Trump administration seems hell-bent on destroying educational excellence in this country. By decimating research funding that keeps our top universities at the forefront of science and innovation, taxing endowment earnings for the most prestigious private colleges and universities and threatening to revoke visas for international students, higher education as we know it is in real peril. And doing this ostensibly in the name of supporting Jews leaves us once again as a scapegoat for other agendas. The idea of cancelling visas of Israeli students studying at Harvard as part of President Trump’s self-described effort to combat anti-Jewish hatred on its campus would be comical if it weren’t so painful.

Beyond its ethical implications, all of this flies in the face of well-established law. The roots of excellence for private colleges and universities lie in their independence from government interference. As Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote in his concurrence with a celebrated 1957 Supreme Court decision, Sweezy v. New Hampshire, the courts need to protect academic institutions “against the grave harm resulting from government intrusion into the intellectual life of a university.” That ruling spelled out four fundamental freedoms: who teaches, who are the students, what is taught and how it is taught. 

I certainly don’t mean to imply that Harvard and its peers are blameless with regard to sowing the seeds of their current predicament. We should always remember that in the hours following the Oct. 7 massacre, dozens of “progressive” Harvard student organizations issued a statement asserting that Israel was “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” And then there is the inaction by Harvard and other schools in light of the subsequent rise in anti-Jewish hatred, and the anemic appearance before a congressional committee by then Harvard President Claudine Gay and her fellow university “leaders” who didn’t have the moral fiber to acknowledge that calling for the genocide of Jews violated rules of student conduct. 

Fortunately, Gay’s successor, Alan Garber, is a significant step up in terms of leadership. But the door was left wide open for the Trump administration to do whatever it could to bring Harvard down.

Bill Bowen, the transformative president of Princeton in the 70s and 80s, used to say that it is much easier to destroy greatness than to create it. Fifteen years ago I met with India’s government minister overseeing its higher education system. He told me that within 25 years there would be a dozen Harvards in his country. I wished him lots of luck.

It took almost four centuries for Harvard to become the premier university in the world, and it will not crumble overnight. But take away its labs, its foreign students, and its endowment earnings, and its future is anything but bright. And who knows what this administration will think of next?

President Trump loves superlatives — the largest crowd, a beautiful tax bill, the most tremendous meeting ever, the perfect phone call.

What a pity it would be if his vindictiveness were to lead to the decline of an industry that truly is the best by global standards: “elite” higher education in the United States.

Morton Schapiro served for more than 22 years as President of Northwestern University and Williams College, where he was also Professor of Economics.

How Trump Is Undermining Academic Excellence Read More »

A Victory for Jewish Students who Need Special Education

Columnists /

What happens when an observant Jewish family in California, raising four school-age children, learns that their youngest child has autism and needs intensive special education services? Until recently, their options were severely limited. They could either:

1. Enroll their child in a public school — one that might not align with their religious beliefs and create logistical problems, or

2. Relocate to a state where federal special education funds can be used at private Jewish day schools.

Now, thanks to a landmark legal settlement announced on May 19, a third and better option exists in the Golden State.

The case, Loffman v. California Department of Education, was brought by three Orthodox Jewish families, along with two Jewish day schools: Shalhevet High School and Yavneh Hebrew Academy. These schools expressed interest in providing special education services to students with disabilities. The defendants in the case were the California Department of Education and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

The outcome of the case has created a new pathway for private religious schools — including Jewish day schools—to qualify for federal funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). First enacted by Congress in 1975, IDEA was designed to ensure that children with disabilities have access to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), just like their nondisabled peers. Services covered under IDEA include speech and occupational therapy, assistive technology, and the development of Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).

While IDEA has always permitted some of its federal funds to be used at private schools, California excluded religious institutions. This meant that nonreligious private schools could access these resources, but Jewish day schools could not, which was discriminatory.

The plaintiffs were represented by Becket, a nonprofit law firm focused on protecting religious freedom for people of all faiths. Becket partnered with Teach Coalition, a division of the Orthodox Union, which coordinated advocacy efforts and rallied public support.

“For too long, California has discriminated against children with disabilities simply because of their faith,” said Daniel Mitzner, director of Government Affairs at Teach Coalition. “This settlement puts that injustice to an end and ensures that Orthodox Jewish families can access the same disability funding as everyone else.”

The legal battle was not easy. Becket filed the lawsuit in March 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. In August 2023, the district court ruled against the families and religious schools, upholding California’s exclusion of religious institutions from IDEA funding.

Undeterred, the plaintiffs appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On October 28, 2024, the appellate court unanimously ruled 3-0 in favor of the families. Writing for the court, Judge Kim Wardlaw concluded that California’s policy violated constitutional principles of religious neutrality. Judges Morgan Christen and Mark Bennett concurred. The court found that excluding religious schools from receiving IDEA funds “fails the neutrality test” required by the First Amendment.

With this ruling in hand, the case was sent back to the district court to finalize its implementation. The May 2025 settlement is now poised to reshape how special education is delivered to students in religious schools across the state.

However, even as we celebrate this important legal victory, dark clouds are gathering on the national special ed horizon. The Trump administration has proposed dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, which oversees IDEA implementation. The plan would transfer IDEA responsibilities to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is already facing proposed cuts of up to $40 billion and the elimination of 10,000 staff positions, according to an April 2025 Washington Post report.

As a longtime parent and advocate for children with disabilities, I view this California settlement as a breakthrough — but one that must be protected. We need a strong, united coalition of parents, educators, and community advocates to resist potential federal cuts that could undermine the progress made through IDEA and threaten services for our most vulnerable children.

This moment calls for both celebration and vigilance. With continued advocacy we can ensure that Jewish children, regardless of ability, receive the education and support they deserve — in schools that honor both their learning needs and their religious identity.

Michelle K. Wolf is a parent disability advocate and the Founding Executive Director of JLA Trust & Services https://jlatrust.org/

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It’s the Thought that Counts

Columnists /

On February 11, 1990, I got hitched. Before we knew it, we had three beautiful boys. Two of our sons are now married to incredible women and have given us three beautiful grandchildren. Our third son is getting married to a remarkable girl next year. We love them all.

We threw in a nice chunk of dough for each wedding. I’m told if I protest the amounts, everyone will hate me. They’re already looking for reasons, so why should I give it to them on a silver platter? I asked my wife not to tell me exactly how much we are spending and told her to fork it over. I might still be single if I knew how much getting married would cost me. 

The rabbis tell you that you’ve given enough money when it hurts. If you pass my house, there is a good chance you might hear me yelling, “Uncle!”

My wonderful wife is very prudent about what she buys for herself. She’s not frugal; she is cost-conscious. I’ve often offered to buy her jewelry because I know she’ll say no. Then one day, by mistake, we were strolling on 47th Street in the heart of New York’s Diamond District. Walking your wife in a diamond district is like walking a man who’s had a few too many into the red-light district in Amsterdam. You’ll always see something you think you need.

She saw a sapphire ring and a diamond Jewish star on a gold chain. We bought both. After the purchase, she bought me a giant hot pretzel from a stand on Sixth Avenue.  

After that trip, I only take her to neighborhoods where most stores are boarded up, except for 7-Eleven, where you can still get three bananas for a dollar. But when it comes to our kids and grandkids, God bless, money is no object to her. 

Is it just me, or does it seem that every day, some family member has a birthday, bar mitzvah, a new tooth breaking through or a wedding anniversary? Once, while in the deepest possible sleep, Stage 3 of non-REM (NREM), she got me to agree to pay for a family vacation on our dime.  On the trip, our kids had their two legal nannies with them, my wife and me.  As soon as we arrived, they dumped the kids with us and headed off to a Chablis tasting tour with a $200 restaurant gift card we supplied them with. 

Thanks to us and their other grandparents, our grandkids have more toys than FAO Schwarz and more clothes than Bloomingdale’s. My mother always said, “Spend before you spend it on doctors.” Well, I’m now at an age where I must spend it on doctors, and I’ve already spent it.  “You can’t take it with you” is quickly coming true. 

On my last birthday, as I edged closer to my eventual demise, my three boys and their significant others chipped in and gave me a $60.00 massage card. That’s six working adults chipping in $10 each for someone they claim to love. After handing the masseuse the gift card, she told me I still owed her $85.00 plus tip and five dollars for using a credit card. As I reached for my wallet, my neck and back tensed back up. 

Many of the gifts they give us are well-meaning, but we have little use for them. So, before they come by, we go to the closet, where we keep all their gifts tagged with their names on them. Then we put them back out before they come over. When they leave, those gifts and whatever new ones are tagged and returned to the gift closet. 

It’s also essential to rearrange the photos of them and their kids, because if, God forbid, they see that they were somehow relegated to the back row behind another family member, all hell can break loose.   

Dear children, We are now at an age where we have almost everything we need — please no more salad spoons. The window is closing, and we are quickly running out of the most irreplaceable commodity of all: TIME. So, know this. It’s not about money. For us, just being with you is our greatest, most precious gift.

Mark Schiff is a comedian, actor and writer, and hosts, along with Danny Lobell, the “We Think It’s Funny” podcast. His new book is “Why Not? Lessons on Comedy, Courage and Chutzpah.”

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Trump’s Craving for Deals

Columnists /

Both Donald Trump’s friends and his foes have learned that keeping up with the president’s changing moods, changing priorities and changing goals is no easy task. So let me do my best to catch us up on Trump and his latest thinking on Israel.

Just about two months ago, I wrote that the president was focused on winning the Nobel Peace Prize he believed had been unfairly denied him during his first term in office. It was already clear to him that ending the Russia-Ukraine war was not going to be nearly as easy as he had envisioned, so he had turned his attention to the Middle East. At that point, his attention seemed to be directed toward an expansion of the Abraham Accords, specifically an agreement between the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel that could pave the way for an unprecedented peace in the region.

But the Saudis’ price for such a deal would have required visible progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, which Trump has now been reminded is well beyond what Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to pay. Hamas continues to reject any plausible ceasefire plan (White House envoy Steve Witkoff displayed unusual public frustration last weekend, complaining that Hamas’ response to his most recent ceasefire and hostage proposal is “totally unacceptable and only takes us backward”). And Israel continues to escalate its military presence in Gaza, making a cessation of violence there seem further away than ever.

But Trump still needs a deal – somewhere. With peace in Ukraine and Gaza both looking increasingly unlikely, the president now seems to be captivated by the prospect of some type of agreement with Iran regarding that country’s nuclear program. During his trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates last month, Trump was told by his hosts that they would support his outreach to Iran (a marked contrast to their strong opposition when Barack Obama began similar efforts back in 2015).

By late last week, Trump was proclaiming that a treaty was only days away and his negotiators followed up on the president’s assertion by presenting a formal proposal to the Iranians last weekend. So it is entirely possible that an agreement could be finalized by the time this column is published. But just hours before Iran received the new terms, United Nations inspectors reported a sizable increase in Iran’s production of enriched uranium, a key component in the making of nuclear weapons. 

Earlier in the week, Iranian leaders had indicated that they might be willing to accept enhanced inspections if a deal with the U.S. was finalized and reiterated their longstanding denials that their country is attempting to develop nuclear weapons. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said it could not confirm whether this was still the case because Iran refuses to grant access to senior inspectors and has not answered longstanding questions about its nuclear history.

This history of Iranian evasion and obfuscation is precisely what makes Israel so concerned about Trump’s efforts. A nuclear Iran is, of course, an existential threat to the Jewish state, and Israeli leaders have historically expended great amounts of time and effort to remind their American allies of the mullahs’ history of deception and aggression. But Trump has warned Netanyahu that he would strongly oppose an Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and has cautioned the Israeli prime minister against taking such steps while the negotiations were still underway.

This is especially frustrating for Netanyahu, who recognizes that there is a small window of opportunity in which Iran’s defenses are unusually vulnerable after Israel’s military strikes last fall. But he also understands the value of his relationship with Trump and his new-found competition for Trump’s affections given how much the American president clearly enjoyed his visit to the Persian Gulf on his latest trip (which did not include a stop in Israel)

Once again, Netanyahu finds himself as a potential obstacle between Trump and his deals. Once again, the political balancing act that both maintains his relationship and protects his country will be no easy feat.

Dan Schnur is the U.S. Politics Editor for the Jewish Journal. He teaches courses in politics, communications, and leadership at UC Berkeley, USC and Pepperdine. He hosts the monthly webinar “The Dan Schnur Political Report” for the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall. Follow Dan’s work at www.danschnurpolitics.com.

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‘Please Tell My Parents to Get Off Their Phones’: What One Therapist Is Hearing from Jewish Teens

Columnists /

Last week, I wrote that we are possibly the first generation of Jews in history to know about Jewish suffering in real time. That probably explains why you, dear reader, and I had such a difficult time functioning after an innocent couple were recently murdered outside the Capital Jewish Museum.

If it is true that modern Jewry has never had so much access to real-time news about Jewish suffering, we owe it to our younger generations to ask how such unprecedented access is affecting them. 

One can only imagine how millions of Jewish youths around the world found out about the horrors of Oct. 7, 2023: alone in their rooms, scrolling their phones. As for their parents, many of us were undoubtedly falling apart, struggling to self-regulate.

I spoke with Devora Hecht, LCSW, a Los Angeles-based therapist who works with many Jewish youths, especially teenagers, to better understand the current state of our younger generation’s nervous system. Her observations were stark, sobering and, in one case, completely surprising, revealing the vulnerabilities of kids and teens and what they need from their parents. 

Since Oct. 7, Hecht has witnessed a palpable increase in “anxiety, depression, feelings of isolation and other psychosomatic symptoms” in both Jewish teens and adults. And when clients are experiencing such “trauma responses,” they want to speak with a therapist who enables them to feel safe. 

That is why, in the past 18 months, Hecht, who is an observant Jew, is increasingly treating secular Jews who were previously comfortable speaking with non-Jewish therapists. “The first concern they share is about [antisemitism after] Oct. 7,” she said. “There’s a fear of misalignment and how it impacts the therapeutic alliance, and their ability to share fears around Israel.”

As for Hecht’s teenage clients, they have “way too much information in the palm of their hands,” including access to horrific photos. Teens, she said, are also feeling lonely in how much their trauma is impacting them, including nightmares and difficulty concentrating in class. Hecht has seen a disturbing increase in “irritability, loneliness with depressive symptoms and wanting to retreat.” She believes that some teens can “bounce back” after being exposed to antisemitic news or images, while others are more sensitive. 

But here’s the bigger problem: according to Hecht, teens feel that they need to be on social media, and though their bodies and their instincts are alerting them to spend less time on their phones, they also feel embarrassed or isolated if they are the only ones among their peers to not be active on social media apps. Social media is addictive and, for many reasons, teens feel they must consume it. One local Jewish teen confirmed this worrisome trend when he anonymously told me, “Sometimes, I really want to put my phone down, but when I get a message, I have to check it. I don’t know how to stop.”

Hecht understands that inherently, the “traumatic content is also in a format teens want to keep looking at.” She reminded me that decades earlier, we were able to turn off the news on TV. Now, neither we nor our children can leave our phones. “Parents are consuming way too much as well,” lamented Hecht. “It’s a unique generation because for the first time, the parents have a phone addiction and are consuming social media.”

Incredibly, Hecht told me that her teen clients often make one request: “Please tell my parents to get off their phones.” That is why Hecht implores parents and caretakers to study their own relationship with technology, and pay closer attention to “your own ability to regulate before talking to your children.”

For both parents and children, Hecht recommends that we pay attention to how our bodies feel after we stop scrolling social media. Do we feel relieved? If so, that’s a big clue. And ensuring that children and teens have healthier relationships with phones begins with critical parental modeling (imagine a visibly phone-addicted father who scolds his children for spending too much time on their phones).

Lately, she has been treating many teens who are anxious about upcoming visits to Israel, or worried that their own Jewish families in America may be at risk. “If your children have fears and anxieties around what might happen to their family, support your child to have open dialogue with you, even if it’s gruesome,” advised Hecht. “They can talk to you about their worst fears or even draw a picture and get that support from you. If they have fears that they think will scare you and they hold it in, they will get trapped in their bodies and it will come out in nightmares, aggression, irritability, etc.”

In March, Hecht and her husband decided they would inform their elementary school-level child about the death of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas. Their son knew that the Bibas family was missing and wanted updates. But before Hecht and her husband could speak with him, their young son learned somehow that the Shiri, Ariel and Kfir family had died. 

“I felt anxious in my body about his reaction,” recalled Hecht. “But the way that he processed it surprised me. He expressed feelings and asked questions at his own pace, whenever he was ready. I was expecting water from a fire hydrant but instead received trickles. Since I wasn’t the one who told him I didn’t fully know what information he heard, and so I didn’t know what to expect.” Hecht’s children do not have iPads or access to TV without an adult.

While parents have more control over younger children, access to social media is “almost inevitable” for teens, according to Hecht. But in her years working as a therapist, Hecht knows that when the world seems chaotic and unsafe, “the only thing we can do is focus on our body.” She tells children that the body they have now is “the same body they will have at school, or when they hug a parent at night. We think with our brains, and we feel with our bodies, so we have to teach our brains to park away certain thoughts,” she said. 

Teens are the hardest youth to restrict when it comes to phone access, and Hecht suggests teaching them to notice their own reactions to stimuli, or as she calls it, “to be detectives for their own bodies” as they scan for signs of fear or anxiety. Children must know how to self-regulate and self-soothe. “Give them open doors to explore their fears and release them, so they’re not trapped in their subconscious,” implored Hecht. 

Parents can enforce rules that phones must be charged outside of bedrooms and should heed Hecht’s reminder that “rumination and unhealthy consumption often happens at night before falling asleep,” especially for teens.

For Hecht, it was impossible to speak with her young son about tragic news until she first learned to regulate herself. Only then was she able to master her own reactions and validate those of her child. She also reminded parents to be more careful about what they play on TV, their phones or even what they discuss with other adults in a car. “Kids hear everything,” she said. “Even when we think no one is listening.”

For more information on Devora Hecht, email Devora@devorahecht.com or visit devorahecht.com.

Tabby Refael is an award-winning writer, speaker and weekly columnist for The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Follow her on X and Instagram @TabbyRefael.

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Boulder Attacker Charged with Antisemitic Hate Crime

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Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian national, has been charged with a federal hate crime and multiple state offenses after attacking a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado, with fire bombs and a makeshift flamethrower on Sunday, according to reports.

The Boulder attack occurred just 11 days after the fatal May 21 shooting of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., further intensifying concerns over escalating antisemitic violence in the United States.

The assault on Sunday wounded 12 individuals, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, Boulder Police said during a Monday press briefing.

The incident occurred during a weekly event organized by “Run for Their Lives,” a group advocating for the release of hostages held by the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. Participants were marching through the Pearl Street Mall when Soliman, reportedly disguised as a gardener, approached and hurled incendiary devices into the crowd while shouting “Free Palestine” and other anti-Israel slogans, according to a Boulder Police affidavit.

Court filings indicate Soliman told investigators he had been planning the attack for over a year, initially intending to carry out a mass shooting. However, after being denied a firearm purchase due to his immigration status, he resorted to constructing fire bombs using gasoline and glass bottles. Authorities recovered 16 unused incendiary devices at the scene.

Soliman told investigators he intended to “kill all Zionist people” but delayed executing the attack until after his daughter’s high school graduation, as documented in State of Colorado v. Soliman.

Soliman entered the United States on a B-2 tourist visa in August 2022, which expired in February 2023. He applied for asylum the following month but has been residing in the country illegally since his work permit expired in March 2025.

A police affidavit supporting Soliman’s arrest stated that he was born in Egypt, spent 17 years living in Kuwait and moved to Colorado Springs three years ago. He currently resides there with his wife and five children, about 100 miles south of Boulder.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi described the fire-bombing as an “antisemitic terror attack.”

“In light of yesterday’s horrific attack, all terrorists, their family members, and terrorist sympathizers here on a visa should know that under the Trump administration we will find you, revoke your visa, and deport you,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also condemned the attack in a statement posted to X on Monday:

“The terror attack on members of the Boulder, Colorado Jewish community demonstrating for the release of our hostages is sickening and outrageous. I spoke earlier with Renee Rockford, President & CEO of the Jewish Federation, and expressed outrage and deep solidarity on behalf of the people of Israel with the Jewish community of Boulder, and my prayer for the recovery and healing of the wounded,” wrote Herzog.

“This vile act of terror is a painful reminder that antisemitism knows no borders. But let me be clear: we will never let terror win. The American and Israeli peoples stand united — determined to bring all our hostages home and to ensure no Jew, anywhere, stands alone,” he continued.

“To the wounded and the entire community: you are in our hearts. Am Yisrael Chai.”

In response to the Boulder and Washington attacks, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a message to Jewish Americans, “This President has your back, and he’s not going to allow anyone to take part in violent terrorism — it’s acts of terrorism — in our country.”

Soliman faces 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder, eight counts of first-degree assault and one federal hate crime charge. If convicted, Soliman could face up to 384 years for the attempted murder charges alone, with additional penalties possible for the assault and hate crime counts, including a potential life sentence under federal law, per information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The attack has drawn condemnation from political leaders across the spectrum. U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Truth Social that such assaults “WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America,” attributing the incident to lax immigration policies and vowing to enforce stricter border controls.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis condemned the attack, calling it “unacceptable” and stating that “hate has no place in our Colorado for anyone.”

Federal authorities are treating the attack as a targeted act of terrorism driven by ideological hatred. At a Monday press conference, FBI and local officials stated that Soliman had not been on law enforcement’s radar prior to the incident and is believed to have acted alone.

The victims, ranging in age from 52 to 88, suffered varying degrees of burn injuries. As of Monday, two individuals remained hospitalized, one of them in critical condition, hospital officials reported.

Soliman is currently being held on a $10 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, according to Boulder County Jail records.

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