An 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, Barbara Steinmetz, who sustained burns in Sunday’s firebomb attack in Colorado targeting demonstrators advocating for the return of Israeli hostages in Gaza, issued a powerful statement to the American public.
In her first public remarks since the assault, Steinmetz told NBC News that the incident was not related to the Holocaust, but rather about "a human being that wants to burn other people." She emphasized that she and other members of the "Run for Their Lives" group were "peacefully" demonstrating when the attack occurred.
Visibly shaken by the ordeal, Steinmetz questioned the state of the nation, stating, "It's about what the hell is going on in our country. What the hell is going on?"
She urged Americans to embrace kindness, decency, and respect. "We’re Americans," she affirmed. "We are better than this. That’s what I want them to know. That they be kind and decent human beings."
Steinmetz, a Hungarian-born survivor, was among a dozen individuals injured in the attack. The assailant, identified as 45-year-old Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, reportedly hurled Molotov cocktails in addition to using a flamethrower. Authorities noted that in both the Boulder attack and a separate incident 11 days prior where two Israeli Embassy workers were killed in Washington, D.C., the attackers yelled, "Free Palestine."