06/02/25

Good morning! It’s Monday, June 2nd.

Love Conquers All Day.

Which feels… insultingly simplistic.

And now, the news.

Denver Attack

-via AP News, NPR, Time, The Atlantic, and Washington Post

There will be only one story in this episode.

On Sunday afternoon, during a weekly peace walk put on by a group called “Run for Their Lives,” which is a nationwide group that does short walks to keep attention on the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, a man yelled, “Free Palestine” before throwing what police have described as a makeshift flamethrower, which based on some witness accounts sounds like it could have been something similar to be a Molotov cocktail, at the group.

Details are still coming out, so it’s hard to get a handle on what exactly he used and how many.

There are six victims, their ages ranging from 67 to 88, who have been taken to the hospital with burn injuries. As I record this, it’s not yet known if all six victims will survive.

It is being investigated as an act of terror.

Authorities do not believe there is another suspect in the area.

The man who was arrested is 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national who was denied a visa to enter the country. How he entered, or when, is currently unclear. I will note that Stephen Miller said he stayed past his tourist visa, but he did so as a way to blame the Biden administration so I don’t know if that was more to blame Biden than to give actual facts. So far, that’s all we know about him. I expect by the time you hear this, we will know more.

While I was on my news hiatus, two Israeli embassy staffers were killed in Washington, DC, outside the Capital Jewish Museum. Upon arrest, the shooter said, "I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza."

In the three months since the Israel-Hamas war, the Anti-Defamation League reported that anti-Semitic incidents went up 361%.

And in a report published in February 2025, 33% of American Jews said they felt they had been the personal target of antisemitism, either in person or online.

It’s called the Israel-Hamas war, and we can argue about the use of the word war later, but we say Hamas, not Gaza, because Gaza is not at war here. Although they are the de facto ruling power in Gaza, Hamas is not the recognized government of Gaza. The reason they are the de facto ruling power is because they gained that power forcibly, overthrowing the recognized government.

So we say Hamas because that is the specific group, within Gaza, that is fighting on one side.

On the side is Israel. And the reason that’s how that gets said is because the government of Israel dictates that side of the war.

The war, and the way it’s being handled, is deeply unpopular in Israel. 73% of Israelis want Prime Minister Netanyahu to either resign now or after the war is over.

What have I said since October 8th?

We’re going to have to hold two thoughts in our heads at the same time here.

What’s happening in Palestine is horrific. Full stop. It is a genocide. It is the act of the government of Israel.

Acts of antisemitism are also horrific. Full stop.

What happened on Sunday is horrific. What happened at the Capital Jewish Museum is horrific.

We should free Palestine. Some people are actively standing in the way of making that happen – these are not those people.

The truth is, we don’t yet know if the victims on Sunday are Jewish, but it does not take away the fact that it is an act of antisemitism.

It was a peace walk.

One of the victims is 88 years old.

Which means she would have been around eight years old when World War II ended and 6 million Jews had been killed.

If the White House has anything fact or newsworthy to say about this, I will relay that. Otherwise, do not expect I will cover any of their comments here.

I’m not putting blame on them, to be very clear, but this White House uses Jewish Americans to push their hateful policies against other groups and then turns around and invites antisemites into the highest seats of government.

The president has dined with antisemites. Elon quite literally did a nazi salute to celebrate Trump’s win. The Proud Boys marched with Trump’s flag the day he was inaugurated.

So, unless it is actual news, there is no statement that can be made that is worthy of being covered, nor, quite frankly, believed.

Obviously, my heart is with the victims, as well as the witnesses, the first responders, their friends, and family, and all Jewish Americans for whom I cannot imagine what this news feels like. Again.

Because it continues to happen.

And we can talk about increasing security until we’re blue in the face but until we’re ready to have a real conversation about what is happening in this country, the division. The anger. The deep deep anger and where it comes from. Until we can talk about that… there is no point in talking about security. Because it will never be enough.

They were on a peace walk.

And that’s it. That’s the news.