In principle, is there any difference between Maine’s Graham Platner and Denver’s Melat Kiros?
Amidst all of her bobbing and weaving, obfuscation, indirect answers, non-answers and deflections, Melat Kiros still manages to make herself clear. When asked whether Israel has a right to exist, and why she will not condemn the firebombing of a predominantly Jewish group that injured many and killed one Jew on June 1 in Boulder, Kiros’ intent becomes clear. It runs something like this:
Israel does not have a right to exist. It is strictly a non-democratic entity that does not nothing but oppress Palestinians, who themselves are not reponsible for their lot, and therefore any attack on Israel or her supporters is understandable. It just so happens that the people firebombed on June 1 — a gathering of Run for Their Lives, calling attention to the plight of Hamas-kidnapped hostages in Gaza — were innocent people, and it’s too bad innocent people were killed. It is, however, understandable. That is why the firebombing was not anti-Semitic.
This is Graham Platner in Denver clothing.
Kiros has not engaged with the Denver Jewish community at all — such as with this newspaper, despite repeated efforts — or not engaged in any sustained way — such as with the ADL, the Jewish Community Relations Council or Denver rabbis. It is this which is understandable, for if you believe the murder of a Jew in Colorado is not anti-Semitic, and that Israel does not have a right to exist, and that the Israel-Palestinian issue is black-and-white, and that the safety of Jews in Colorado is irrelevant, there is little you would able to say to the Jews who live in Denver; who by the way, have given to Denver a lot longer than Melat Kiros has.
© IJN 2026
