Boulder Fails to Rally Around Their Jewish Community

(Trevor Hughes/USA Today)

It would seem the anti-Semitic, terrorist attack against Jews wanting Hamas to release the hostages has failed to rally Boulder, Colorado around the Jewish community as per Trevor Hughes of USA Today:

The small group of "Run for their Lives" marchers in this college town were sharing their message on June 1 − 603 days since Hamas snatched concertgoers and ordinary people from southern Israel and vanished them into Gaza's tunnels.

But halfway through the Sunday afternoon march, a suicidal Muslim immigrant attacked them with a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails, injuring 12, including an elderly Holocaust survivor.

Many regular marchers of the group are Jewish. Six of the injured in what federal officials have described as a terror attack were from the same synagogue, Bonai Shalom.

But instead of bringing the community together, the attack appears to have further exacerbated existing fault lines across this wealthy, liberal city where pro-Palestinian protests verging on outright antisemitism have become a way of life for elected leaders and college students.

After the attack, someone posted "Wanted" signs on the Pearl Street Mall just steps from the scene, naming the majority of city council members as guilty of "complicity in genocide" for refusing to pass a ceasefire resolution and not divesting from businesses that are helping Israel wage its war against Hamas.

In other words, the events of last Sunday were just another Sunday. Leading up to last Sunday, those involved with Run for their Lives hadn't exactly been welcomed with open arms:

On June 1, as she had dozens of times in the past, Turnquist was pushing her Australian shepherd Jake in a stroller as the group made its way past the historic Boulder County Courthouse on Pearl Street pedestrian mall. She saw a man dressed like a landscaper ‒ odd, she thought, since it was a Sunday ‒ and thought it would be best to just keep walking, as she had done so many times before when counter-protesters screamed and yelled.

There had never been physical violence against the group, but there were insults, jeers, accusations that the marchers themselves support genocide. Turnquist and others who have marched said they often felt unsafe. 

In other words, the seeds of violence had been planted, fertilized and now grown into a nightmarish bloom.

Yet we must ask questions of those who see fit to yell at those who only seek to see the release of the hostages. 

If someone feels the need to yell at someone who wants to see the release of the hostages, then one must reasonably conclude that those people not only support Hamas taking people into captivity but would delight if Hamas were to kill them because they are Jews. 

Such attitudes say more about them than they do about the people who wish the hostages to be freed. 

One can only hope the community of Boulder will turn out in large numbers tomorrow. But even if it does, the tolerance for anti-Semitism will remain and likely fester. 

Then again if the community of Boulder doesn't turn for Run for their Lives and their Jewish community, then it will mean Jews in Boulder are on their own. And perhaps all of America.