Kiros Says She ‘Fumbled’ Warning About Antisemitism in Pro-Palestinian Movement

Melat Kiros, the Democratic nominee for Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, said Sunday that she had “fumbled” remarks warning that progressives were leaving space for antisemites to exploit the movement for Palestinian liberation.

“To be clear, my foreign policy priority is ending Israel’s occupation, apartheid, and genocide in Palestine,” Kiros wrote on X. She also rejected the view that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, saying the distinction was necessary to combat what she called “actual antisemitism.”

The statement came after a July 31 interview on PBS’s Firing Line, where Kiros struck a more sympathetic tone toward Jewish concerns. She said Israel was losing support across the political spectrum and warned that progressives were leaving the issue open to figures such as Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, whom she called antisemites and white supremacists, to claim they were defending Palestinians.

“If we are not presenting our vision of what we believe in with our democratic values—that extends not to the Palestinian people but to the Israeli people and the Jewish people,” Kiros said, progressives would be unable to offer a vision that was not immediately dismissed as bigoted or antisemitic.

Kiros later said she had “fumbled this line, plain and simple.” She argued that the Democratic Party’s failure to lead on the issue was allowing antisemites on the right to co-opt the Palestinian movement while providing “fodder to AIPAC talking points.”

“A movement for liberation must center the Palestinians being oppressed, occupied, and systematically exterminated,” she wrote, adding that anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia were too often ignored.

The interview also raised questions about Kiros’s preferred political framework for Israel and the Palestinians. She expressed skepticism that a two-state solution could be implemented and supported equal rights, a Palestinian right of return and reparations under a new political arrangement.

Host Margaret Hoover asked what concrete institutions would protect Jews if they no longer controlled the government or military and became a minority under a one-state solution.

“The concern is valid, but the concern doesn’t justify allowing the status quo to continue,” Kiros replied.

Kiros also confirmed during the interview that she supports ending U.S. military and economic aid to Israel. Previous reporting said her proposed arms embargo would include defensive assistance used to protect Israelis from missile attacks.

Her positions have already drawn criticism from Colorado Jewish leaders. Brandon Rattiner, senior director of Denver’s Jewish Community Relations Council, said Jewish organizations had repeatedly warned that Kiros’s rhetoric on Israel was causing alarm but felt those concerns had been dismissed. He also expressed disappointment after meeting privately with her.

Kiros faced separate criticism during the primary campaign after repeatedly declining to call the June 2025 firebombing of a Boulder gathering supporting Israeli hostages antisemitic. She said she did not know what was “in the heart of the perpetrator,” although the attack targeted a Jewish-led gathering and the suspect was charged with a federal hate crime.

Kiros, a 29-year-old democratic socialist, defeated longtime Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado’s June 30 Democratic primary. She will compete in the November general election in the heavily Democratic Denver-based district.