Complete Colorado’s Ari Armstrong writes that antisemitism has found footholds in Colorado politics on both the left and the right, using Melat Kiros’ Israel rhetoric and Joe Oltmann’s open antisemitic filth as examples. It is not a comforting read. It is a mirror held up to a political class that knows how to detect hate instantly when it helps the team, then suddenly needs a task force, a glossary, and a fainting couch when the hate becomes inconvenient.
The core of the piece is Kiros, the Democratic Socialist who has now reportedly knocked off Diana DeGette in Denver’s Democratic primary. Armstrong points to Kiros’ 2023 writing on Israel, her interview with Kyle Clark, and her attempts to separate “calls for the elimination of the Israeli state” from antisemitism. That is the whole absurdity in one sentence: pretending you can talk about erasing the world’s one Jewish state and then act shocked when people hear Jew-hatred in the damn sentence.
But Armstrong does not let Republicans skate, either. He points to Joe Oltmann’s vile rhetoric about Jewish Colorado political figures, Scott Bottoms’ grotesque comment about maybe finding Oltmann a place in a future administration, and Tina Peters’ appearance on Oltmann’s podcast. Good. This should not be a GOP victory lap. Antisemitism is not a left-right problem. It is a moral cowardice problem with better tailoring.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Kiros reportedly writes on her own “about” page that she lost her law firm job for publicly criticizing Israel and that she is running as a Democratic Socialist. Denver Democrats apparently looked at that résumé and said, “Yes, let’s make history and heartburn at the same time.”
- Armstrong says Kiros’ 2023 article superficially condemned antisemitism, then suggested that “calls for the elimination of the Israeli state” should not be considered antisemitic. That is not nuance. That is moral laundering with footnotes.
- In Kyle Clark’s interview, Kiros accused Israel of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing,” opposed U.S. weapons sales to Israel, and tried to explain her claim that the October 7 massacre was an “inevitable consequence of apartheid.” You can criticize Israeli policy all day long. That is not the same thing as treating Jewish self-determination as uniquely illegitimate.
- Asked about the Boulder firebombing, Kiros would not plainly call it antisemitic, saying she did not know what was in the perpetrator’s heart. Colorado’s political hall monitors can spot a microaggression from space, but when Jews are attacked, suddenly we need emotional forensics.
- Armstrong also calls out Republicans, including Joe Oltmann’s “synagogue of Satan Jews” remark and his comments about political violence. Scott Bottoms’ response that he would “probably” find a place for Oltmann in his administration, “assuming it’s not around Jewish people,” should embarrass every Republican with a pulse and a Sunday school memory.
My Bottom Line
This is the moment Colorado politics proves the problem is not merely ideology. It is cowardice.
On the left, the euphemism game is exhausting. “Anti-Zionism.” “Liberation.” “Resistance.” “Context.” “Oppression.” Pick your preferred graduate-seminar camouflage. The point is always the same: make eliminationist rhetoric sound like a policy critique, then accuse everyone else of being too simple-minded to appreciate the distinction.
No. Colorado voters are not required to pretend this is complicated because some activist with a committee title needs it to be complicated. You can criticize Netanyahu. You can criticize Israeli military decisions. You can criticize settlements, borders, aid, strategy, and every elected official in Jerusalem. But when your framework treats the existence of the world’s only Jewish state as the core problem, do not act surprised when people hear antisemitism knocking at the door.
And Republicans had better clean their own house. Oltmann’s rhetoric is not edgy. It is not anti-establishment. It is not “just asking questions.” It is poison. Any Republican who winks at it, platforms it, shrugs at it, or tries to harvest its audience while pretending not to smell the sewage is part of the problem.
Colorado is better than this. Or at least it used to be. Kiros’ win is a big loss for those of us who support Israel and still believe basic moral clarity should not require party permission. If this is how the new politics talks about Jews, Israel, terrorism, and violence, then the problem is not just one candidate. The problem is every coward who hears it and starts calculating coalition math instead of saying, plainly, enough.
Source: Complete Colorado
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