The Boulder, Colorado chapter of Run For Their Lives, the Israeli hostage awareness event that was firebombed in June, will no longer publicize its demonstrations after weeks of continued threats, including from a local political candidate, according to JTA.
“Participants are facing a level of harassment that makes it impossible to continue safely in public view,” Brandon Rattiner, senior director of the local Jewish Community Relations Council, said in a statement.
The Boulder march, one of more than 230 chapters around the world held weekly to draw attention to the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, was attacked on June 1 by a man who threw Molotov cocktails at participants. Thirteen people were injured and one 82-year-old woman later died.
The man accused of the attack, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was arrested at the scene and indicted on 12 hate crime counts.
Since then, anti-Israel counter-demonstrators have targeted the group, according to local Jewish leaders. Protesters have called Run For Their Lives participants “genocidal c–t,” “racist,” and “Nazi,” and mentioned the lead organizer’s children, according to videos reviewed by JCRC.
Video posted to social media by a pro-Palestinian counter-demonstrator show clashes. One from Aug. 17 documents the counter-demonstrator, Eric Gross, shouting, “More than 1,000 children under the age of 1 murdered by the IDF” and someone in the Run For Their Lives group appearing to respond, “Not enough.” Gross then trails the group along Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall, where the marches have taken place, singling out the woman he said made the comment, who ultimately left under police protection, according to the video.
The march disavowed the comment in a statement this week, saying, “We are aware of a social media post of our Aug. 17 walk where an inappropriate and offensive comment was made by one of our walkers. This individual’s comment in no way reflects the views of Run For Their Lives.” The group also said the woman accused of having made the comment did not in fact make it and that she had faced threats as a result of the video.
Aaron Stone, who is running for Boulder City Council, has been one of the more vocal counterprotesters, and allegedly called Rachel Amaru, the founder of the Boulder chapter of Run for Their Lives, a “Nazi,” according to CBS Colorado.
Amaru told 9News that “100% I’m being attacked because I’m Jewish,” adding that, “calling a Jew in Boulder right now a ‘Nazi’ is so over the top.”
When asked if he regretted calling Amaru a “Nazi,” Stone told CBS Colorado that he agreed “it is a very strong word to use.” But he defended protesting against the group.
