Boulder Jewish Festival proceeds with enhanced security and focus on healing after attack
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The group that was attacked last weekend in Boulder, Colorado, while calling for Hamas to release Israeli hostages will be a central focus of the Boulder Jewish Festival, which kicks off Sunday morning in the same location where the firebombing took place.
Organizers of the festival, which is in its 30th year, said they have reimagined the cultural celebration to focus on community healing after a man who yelled 'Free Palestine' threw Molotov cocktails at Run for Their Lives demonstrators, according to law enforcement officials.
Authorities have said 15 people and a dog were victims of the attack. Not all were physically injured, and some are considered victims for the legal case because they were in the area and could potentially have been hurt.
Run for Their Lives, a global grassroots initiative with 230 chapters, started in October 2023 after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.
Sunday's festival at the downtown Pearl Street pedestrian mall will center the group's cause — raising awareness of the 55 people believed to still be in captivity in Gaza. The Boulder chapter walks at the mall every weekend for 18 minutes, the numerical value of the Hebrew word 'chai,' which means 'life.'
'It is going to look very different this year. Run for Their Lives is going to be featured front and center,' said Miri Kornfeld, a Run for Their Lives organizer in Denver. 'The community is looking for a way to come together after an act of violence. People just want to be together, and they want to celebrate who they are.'
A group representing families of the Israeli hostages plans to send at least one family to join the Boulder chapter Sunday as it resumes its weekly walks during the festival, Kornfeld said. Art, food and music are also planned.
In response to the attack, the Boulder Police Department and the FBI are coordinating to provide increased security at the festival, local synagogues and the Boulder Jewish Community Center. Festival attendees can expect drones, SWAT elements and plainclothes officers in the crowd to increase safety and make people feel at ease, police Chief Stephen Redfearn said.
'Any would-be attacker, anybody that might come there to cause harm, I want them to see that we have a lot of people there, and hopefully that dissuades anyone from doing anything nefarious,' Redfearn said Thursday.
The victims of the attack include eight women and seven men, ranging in age from 25 to 88. One is a Holocaust survivor.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was charged Thursday in state court with 118 counts, including attempted murder, assault, illegal use of explosives and animal cruelty. He has also been charged with a hate crime in federal court and is jailed on a $10 million cash bond.
Soliman, an Egyptian national who federal authorities say was living in the U.S. illegally, told police he was driven by a desire 'to kill all Zionist people,' a reference to the movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel. Authorities said he expressed no remorse about the attack.
U.S. immigration officials took Soliman's wife and five children, who also are Egyptian, into custody Tuesday. They have not been charged in the attack.
A federal judge on Wednesday granted a request to block the deportation of Soliman's wife and children.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who is Jewish, has deemed the attack antisemitic, meaning it targeted Jewish people because of their identity or beliefs.
Sundays
Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba.
Organizers have not confirmed whether all the demonstrators last Sunday were Jewish. The group is open to Jewish and non-Jewish participants.
The violence in downtown Boulder unfolded against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, which continues to inflame global tensions and has contributed to a spike in antisemitism in the U.S. It also came at the start of the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai in Egypt.
'In the wake of the most violent antisemitic terrorist attack in Colorado history, we are reminded of the profound power of standing shoulder to shoulder,' Mindy Miller of Stop Antisemitism Colorado said at a community vigil Wednesday night. 'Let today be the beginning of a new chapter in Colorado — one where Jews no longer have to stand alone.'
___
Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Iranian rapper Tataloo once supported a hard-line presidential candidate. Now he faces execution
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The tattoos covering Iranian rapper Tataloo's face stand out against the gray prison uniform the 37-year-old now wears as he awaits execution, his own rise and fall tracing the chaos of the last decade of Iranian politics. Tataloo, whose full name is Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, faces a death sentence after being convicted on charges of 'insulting Islamic sanctities.' It's a far cry from when he once supported a hard-line Iranian presidential candidate. Tataloo's music became popular among the Islamic Republic's youth, as it challenged Iran's theocracy at a time when opposition to the country's government was splintered and largely leaderless. The rapper's lyrics became increasingly political after the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini and the subsequent wave of nationwide protests. He also appeared in music videos which criticized the authorities. 'When you show your face in a music video, you are saying, 'Hey, I'm here, and I don't care about your restrictions,'' said Ali Hamedani, a former BBC journalist who interviewed the rapper in 2005. 'That was brave.' The Iranian Supreme Court last month upheld his death sentence. 'This ruling has now been confirmed and is ready for execution,' judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told reporters at a press conference last month. Activists have decried his looming execution and expressed concern for his safety after he reportedly tried to kill himself in prison. From a music video on a warship to exile Tataloo began his music career in 2003 as part of an underground genre of Iranian music that combines Western styles of rap, rhythm-and-blues and rock with Farsi lyrics. His first album, released in 2011, polarized audiences, though he never played publicly in Iran, where its Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance controls all concerts. Tataloo appeared in a 2015 music video backing Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and Tehran's nuclear program, which long has been targeted by the West over fears it could allow the Islamic Republic to develop an atomic bomb. While he never discussed the motivation behind this, it appeared that the rapper had hoped to win favor with the theocracy or perhaps have a travel ban against him lifted. In the video for 'Energy Hasteei,' or 'Nuclear Energy,' Tataloo sings a power ballad in front of rifle-wielding guardsmen and later aboard the Iranian frigate Damavand in the Caspian Sea. The ship later sank during a storm in 2018. 'This is our absolute right: To have an armed Persian Gulf,' Tataloo sang. Tataloo even issued an endorsement for hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi in 2017. That year, the two sat for a televised appearance as part of Raisi's failed presidential campaign against the relative moderate Hassan Rouhani. Raisi later won the presidency in 2021, but was killed in a helicopter crash in 2024. Fame in Turkey, prison back in Iran In 2018, Tataloo — who faced legal problems in Iran — was allowed to leave the country for Turkey, where many Persian singers and performers stage lucrative concerts. Tataloo hosted live video sessions as he rose to fame on social media, where he became well-known for his tattoos covering his face and body. Among them are an Iranian flag and an image of his mother next to a key and heart. Instagram deactivated his account in 2020 after he called for underage girls to join his 'team' for sex. He also acknowledged taking drugs. 'Despite being a controversial rapper, Tataloo has quite the fanbase in Iran, known as 'Tatalities,'' said Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near-East Policy. 'Over the years, they've flooded social media with messages of solidarity for him and even campaigned for the rapper's release in the past when he was detained on separate charges.' Tataloo's rebellious music struck a chord with disenfranchised young people in Iran as they struggled to find work, get married and start their adult lives. He also increasingly challenged Iran's theocracy in his lyrics, particularly after the death of Amini following her arrest over allegedly not wearing the hijab to the liking of authorities. His collaboration 'Enghelab Solh' — 'Peace Revolution' in Farsi — called out Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by name. 'We don't want tear gas, because there are tears in everyone's eyes,' he rapped. But the music stopped for Tataloo in late 2023. He was deported from Turkey after his passport had expired, and was immediately taken into custody upon arrival to Iran. Death sentence draws protests Tehran's Criminal Court initially handed Tataloo a five-year sentence for blasphemy. Iran's Supreme Court threw out the decision and sent his case to another court, which sentenced him to death in January. The rapper already faced ten years in prison for a string of separate convictions, including promoting prostitution and moral corruption. 'Tataloo is at serious risk of execution,' Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of advocacy group Iran Human Rights, said in a statement. 'The international community, artists and the public must act to stop his execution.' Tataloo earlier expressed remorse at a trial. 'I have certainly made mistakes, and many of my actions were wrong,' he said, according to the state-owned Jam-e Jam daily newspaper. 'I apologize for the mistakes I made.' Tataloo married while on death row, his uncle said. Last month, Tataloo reportedly attempted to kill himself, but survived. His death sentence comes at a politically fraught moment for Iran as the country is at it's 'most isolated,' said Abbas Milani, an Iran expert at Stanford University. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. The Islamic Republic is 'desperately trying to see whether it can arrive at a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program and have the sanctions lifted,' he said. Drawing the ire of Tataloo's fans is 'one headache they don't need,' he added. ___ EDITOR'S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at ___ Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Vienna and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
Canada Standard
3 hours ago
- Canada Standard
Israeli cabinet minister tells banks to ignore EU sanctions
Bezalel Smotrich has said financial institutions in the country should take measured risks in servicing settlers targeted by Brussels in 2024 Israeli banks should provide services to settlers whom the European Union has slapped with sanctions, despite any potential repercussions, the country's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has insisted. He warned that those failing to comply could be made to pay out hefty compensations. Last July, the EU for the first time in its history imposed punitive measures on five Israeli settlers and three groups over "serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians" in the occupied West Bank, which is considered part of Palestine under international law. Apart from an EU-wide entry ban and an asset freeze, the sanctions prohibit the "provision of funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly," to the affected Israeli nationals. In a post on X on Wednesday, the official, who is known for his far-right views, said that he had sent a letter to the banking supervisor, Dani Khachiashvili, in which he demanded an end to "the 'zero risk' policy on the part of banks, which leads to the abandonment of Israeli customers under the guise of compliance with foreign sanctions." Smotrich accused Israeli financial institutions of "small-mindedness" and unquestioning compliance with "unjust" EU sanctions. He argued that banks in fact "have a significant ability to act against" Brussels' punitive measures, by taking legal action and wielding their "global economic connections." The official threatened that if his call was not heeded, he would push for legislation that would force Israeli financial institutions to pay out sizable compensations to the affected individuals. The Israeli finance minister further wrote that he could also promote legislation that would require the Bank of Israel to "open and manage bank accounts for citizens on whom sanctions are imposed." Speaking to AFP last month, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said that Stockholm would "push for EU sanctions against individual Israeli ministers" since there was no "clear improvement for the civilians in Gaza." At around the same time, her Slovenian colleague, Tanja Fajon, announced that her country was "looking into the possibility of sanctions against Israel, alongside France and Ireland." Also in May, the UK and Canada, which are not part of the EU, along with France, issued a joint statement condemning the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza. The document accused the Israeli government of denying "essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population" of the Palestinian enclave. London, Ottawa and Paris threatened to "take further concrete actions," including "targeted sanctions," should "egregious actions" on the part of Israel continue. The statement also demanded that Israel halt settlement activities in the occupied West Bank. (
Toronto Star
4 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Boulder Jewish Festival proceeds with enhanced security and focus on healing after attack
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The group that was attacked last weekend in Boulder, Colorado, while calling for Hamas to release Israeli hostages will be a central focus of the Boulder Jewish Festival, which kicks off Sunday morning in the same location where the firebombing took place. Organizers of the festival, which is in its 30th year, said they have reimagined the cultural celebration to focus on community healing after a man who yelled 'Free Palestine' threw Molotov cocktails at Run for Their Lives demonstrators, according to law enforcement officials.
