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June 1, 2025 3:46 pm. The 80th weekly Boulder Walk to Support the Gaza Hostages was attacked around 1:30 pm this afternoon by a man wielding a makeshift flamethrower and throwing Molotov cocktails, causing injuries to at least a dozen victims. Four women and four men ages 52 to 88 were taken to Denver metro hospitals, and two remain hospitalized.
The attack took place in front of the Boulder County Building, formerly the Boulder County Courthouse, off the Pearl St. Mall between 14th Street and 13th Street. A suspect is in custody, and authorities believe he acted alone. The FBI is investigating this as a terror attack.
More news to come.
Here are links to news sites.
Here is an initial statement from Jonathan Lev and the Boulder JCC:
Joint Statement from Boulder’s Jewish Community
We are saddened and heartbroken to learn that an incendiary device was thrown at walkers at the Run for Their Lives walk on Pearl Street as they were raising awareness for the hostages still held in Gaza.
We don’t have all the details of what is unfolding, and we promise to keep our community informed.
Our hearts go out to those who witnessed this horrible attack, and prayers for a speedy recovery to those who were injured.
We are in touch with law enforcement about our Boulder Jewish community, and safety is our highest priority. We are working closely with SCN, Boulder PD, and the FBI. We are grateful for the first responders who are caring for our injured.
We will continue to work together to share information and provide support for our community. When events like this enter our own community, we are shaken. Our hope is that we come together for one another.
Strength to you all.
Rabbi Fred Greene, Congregation Har HaShem
Rabbi Marc Soloway, Congregation Bonai Shalom
Rabbi Diane Tiferet Lakein, Congregation Nevei Kodesh
Elyana Funk, CU Boulder Hillel
Jonathan Lev, Boulder JCC
Cynthia Weinger, Boulder JCC
Statement from Governor Polis:
Statement from Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs:
“While there are many details yet to be confirmed, we are closely monitoring the situation in Boulder, CO, in which gasoline and a Molotov cocktail were apparently thrown at participants in a ‘Run For Their Lives’ event for the Israeli hostages, causing multiple injuries.
“This follows the deadly antisemitic shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum just days ago, and the firebombing of a Jewish governor’s home on Passover in April.
“Make no mistake: if and when Jews are targeted to protest Israel’s actions, it should clearly and unequivocally be understood and condemned as antisemitism.
“These attacks come alongside a broader rise in antisemitism, from hate crimes targeting Jews walking down the street, to efforts to marginalize, isolate, and discriminate against Jews, to antisemitic and white supremacist mass violence targeting synagogues and other spaces.
“The Jewish community was already feeling incredibly vulnerable following years of this increasingly normalized antisemitism. These recent attacks only compound that fear.
“Anyone who claims to care about fundamental civil and human rights must speak out against this hate and violence, no matter where it comes from.”
Statement from StandWithUs Denver:
On June 1, 2025, our peaceful Run for Their Lives walk in Boulder, CO was brutally disrupted in a violent assault that Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is calling a hate crime. We are grateful to him and Colorado Governor Jared Polis for their immediate and decisive responses.
Miri Kornfeld, Director of StandWithUs in Colorado, is one of the 4 co-leaders of Run For Their Lives in Denver.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the five burn victims from today’s attack for a speedy recovery. We thank law enforcement and the fire department for their quick response and to the doctors and nurses working to heal.
Run for Their Lives is an apolitical global organization with the sole mission of walking peacefully to raise awareness for the 58 hostages still held in captivity by Hamas in Gaza. We are so thankful for our Run for Their Lives leaders and community members, who are all volunteers in our 230 groups worldwide.
This global grass roots organization was founded on October 15, 2023, a week after the horrendous terrorist attack by Hamas that left more than 1200 murdered, injured, raped and kidnapped. These walks have been held every week since then for all the hostages — without any violent incidents until today.
The plight of the hostages is an international humanitarian crisis. The hostages, who hail from multiple countries, religions and ethnicities, have been held in the tunnels of Gaza without aid for more than 600 days. Reports indicate that at least 20 of them are still presumed to be alive, and we believe there is a collective responsibility to release them all.
We call on world leaders to do everything they can to ensure the swift return home of each of the 58 hostages. Run for Their Lives remains committed to our mission until ALL the HOSTAGES are returned back home!
Statement from Boulder Center for Judaism:
We are absolutely devastated to hear about the terrorist attack on our peaceful Jewish community and are currently assisting the victims. We are grateful for the strong response from local and federal law enforcement.
We received this heartbreaking news while we were preparing for Shavuot.
Across different eras and locales, this hatred has clothed itself in different costumes – religious persecution, racial bigotry, or degradation.
As the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s representatives in Boulder, we can only echo his strong message: the only answer to anti-Semitism is more Semitism.
Tomorrow, synagogues all around the world will read the Ten Commandments to relive that fateful day in the desert over three millennia ago.
Here in Boulder, our reading will take place at 5:30 pm, at the Boulder Center for Judaism, located at 2810 Jay Road.
All are welcome to attend, free of charge. We can think of no better way to show both the victims here and our brethren in the Holy Land and around the world that we stand with them and will not be daunted by cowardly acts of hate.
Many are reeling from the shock and trauma of the horrible events that occurred. We hope you can lean on one another in this challenging time.
As a closely knit community, we are all in this together. Side by side. Hand in hand.
We will not be intimidated by hatred.
We will rise above the hate and move forward with greater strength.
The only way is forward. Together.
Rabbi Pesach and Chany Scheiner
Statement from Chabad at CU Boulder:
To all our Friends, Students and Alumni,
We are touched beyond words by the endless outpouring of love and concern after today’s evil terrorist attack here in Boulder. We are unharmed and in contact with the families of those injured in the attack.
Please keep Shoshana bat Lillian in your prayers for a complete recovery. When we hear of a fundraising effort to support her and her family in the long road to recovery ahead, we will definitely share.
The immense wave of positive messages we’ve received is another signal of the health and strong spirits of our community.
What terrorists hate in us is what we love most about ourselves – our proud and cherished Jewish identity. Right now, outside of tending to our wounded and frightened brothers and sisters, we have no time to respond to this act of evil, because we are preoccupied with our preparations for the sacred and joyous Shavuot festival which begins tonight. Shavuot marks the anniversary of the day G-d spoke to us at Mount Sinai and gave us the Torah. We’ve had our envious detractors since that day, and we’ve proceeded despite them for over 3,300 years.
We encourage everyone to respond energetically to this attack by celebrating Shavuot joyously, by attending the reading of the Ten Commandments, and by recommitting to the heritage and traditions we hold so dear. For those of you in Boulder, see below for our celebration, or find one near you https://www.chabad.org/jewish-centers/
Our observance of Shavuot begins at 8:06 pm MST tonight, and ends on Tuesday at 9:15 pm. We will be offline during all of that time and unable to respond to your messages. If you are local and would like to come talk and be with community, you can find us at Chabad House or our home.
Am Yisrael Chai & Chag Sameach.
Love,
Rabbi Yisroel & Leah Wilhelm
