Colorado faith leaders express sorrow over attack on rally for release of Hamas hostages

BOULDER, Colo. (OSV News) — As Boulder residents reeled from a violent attack on peaceful demonstrators June 1 who called for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, area faith leaders expressed sorrow over the attack and urged an end to such violence.

The attack was against participants in a weekly walk on a pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder sponsored by the city’s chapter of Run for Their Lives.

The alleged attacker, identified by the FBI as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was armed with a homemade flamethrower and threw two Molotov cocktails at the group, burning multiple victims, police said. Witnesses said Soliman yelled, “Free Palestine.”

Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila encouraged the Catholic faithful to pray for those affected and pray for the Lord “to bring comfort, healing and peace in the face of such hatred. May we listen to the voice of God who calls us to love one another!”

In a statement, he said he was “deeply saddened,” particularly “as it seems our Jewish brothers and sisters were targeted. This type of violence must come to an end as it only fuels hatred.”

The attack took place hours before the start of Shavuot, a Jewish holiday commemorating the giving of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) to Moses at Mount Sinai. It is celebrated seven weeks after Passover, and this year was June 1-3.

“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,” said a statement from Rabbi Yisroel and Leah Wilhelm, directors of the Rohr Chabad House at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Authorities believe Soliman acted alone in what they called a “targeted terror attack.” He was taken into custody at the scene and has been charged with a federal hate crime and state charges including 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder, according to court documents.

He drove to Boulder from his home in El Paso County, about 100 miles south of Boulder. Born in Egypt, Soliman, a husband and a father of five, moved to Colorado Springs three years ago, according to ABC News. The Department of Homeland Security said he is in the U.S. without legal status.

According to an FBI affidavit, there were at least 14 more unlit Molotov cocktails at the scene.

Those badly injured at the Pearl Street Mall, which comprises four downtown blocks, ranged in age from 52 to 88. At least eight were hospitalized for burns, and by June 3 all but two had been released. Soliman is being held in jail on a $10 million bond and was due back in court June 5.

The group that sponsors the weekly walk, Run for Their Lives, organizes events to call for the immediate release of 58 Israelis who have been held in Gaza since 2023. A third of those hostages are believed to be still alive.

They were taken during the Hamas attack on Israel Oct. 7, 2023, which left about 1,200 dead and took place on Simchat Torah, which marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings and the beginning of a new one.

An April report from the Anti-Defamation League for the Mountain States region showed a disturbing trend. Last year, it stated, “Colorado recorded 279 anti-Jewish incidents, 41% higher than the record of 198 recorded the previous year.” And during the past five years, “incidents have climbed a staggering 373 percent in the state since 2020.”

In 2024, the report concluded, “Colorado ranked ninth in the nation … for the total number of reported antisemitic incidents and third in the nation for the number of anti-Semitic white supremacist propaganda distributions.”

Antisemitic incidents reported in 2024 in the three-state region of Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming reached their highest levels in more than four decades.

Nationally, the report stated, “a massive spike in antisemitic incidents following the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel continued in 2024, with national totals again exceeding any other annual tally in the past 46 years. This is the fourth year in a row that annual incidents nationally exceeded the previous all-time high.”

Stefanie Clarke, co-executive director of Stop Antisemitism Colorado, told Colorado Public Radio, “The reason things like this are happening is because we have allowed this climate of hate to fester. And today it boiled over and this doesn’t come out of nowhere. This is part of a deeply disturbing trend of hate that has been normalized and allowed to spread.”

On X, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said June 1 that he and his wife were praying for the attack’s victims.

“In recent years, antisemitism has reached unprecedented levels in the U.S. — leading to attacks like this hate-fueled incident in Boulder and the recent murders in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “It is particularly painful that this attack occurred as the Jewish community prepares to celebrate Shavuot. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to combating antisemitism in all of its forms.”

On May 21, two employees of the Israeli Embassy, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were fatally shot outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington. Federal authorities May 22 charged Elias Rodriguez with first-degree murder, the murder of foreign officials and other crimes. Interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in the District of Columbia said she planned to also investigate the attack as a hate crime and an act of terrorism.

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