Boulder Jewish Fest kicks off a week after antisemitic firebomb attack: ‘Healing is a marathon'
Thousands of people packed Sunday's Boulder Jewish Festival at the Pearl Street Mall in Colorado — not far from the site of last week's antisemitic firebomb attack.
Among the event's speakers were members of Run for Their Lives, the peaceful group targeted by the firebomber.
The festival, hosted by the Boulder JCC, featured dozens of community Jewish organizations, food vendors, an art market and live music and performances — under a noticeably stepped-up security presence.
Thousands of people show up for a day of solidarity, unity and healing at Sunday's 30th annual Boulder Jewish Festival.
REUTERS
The festival served as a showing of community solidarity, healing and hope in the wake of the terror attack that injured 15 people participating in a pro-Israel walking event.
Event organizers worked closely with the Boulder Police Department, JEWISHColorado's Secure Community Network and state officials to ensure the event was safe.
Bomb-sniffing dogs could be seen walking around areas where the public gathered accompanied by uniformed police officers.
The 30th annual Boulder Jewish Festival was held with increased security in the wake of last week's terror attack.
REUTERS
The festival kicked off with a walk of solidarity for the Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas. Run for Their Lives was holding such a walk when its members were allegedly targeted by Mohamed Sabry Soliman last week.
Among last week's injured was Barbara Steinmetz, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor described by a local rabbi as a 'very loving' woman.
Members of Run for Their Lives took the stage to address the crowd. Susan Rona, the Mountain State's regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, also was on hand to thank those in attendance.
'The thousands strong showing up today are saying, 'Enough, enough, enough,' ' she said. 'Hate toward the Jewish community has no place in Boulder, hate has no place in Boulder.
'After the headlines fade, don't pretend this isn't happening. This is life for Jews in America today, and healing is a marathon,' she added.
'We in boulder have the power to change our polarized nation together. Let us show the world how we respond to hate. Let's make some new memories together in this space and show the world what hate cannot extinguish: love, shared humanity, community and joy,' she urged the cheering crowd.
'That is how we respond, and that is how we will move forward together, undeterred and more committed than ever to each other.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
19 minutes ago
- CNN
Israel has boarded Gaza-bound aid ship carrying Greta Thunberg, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition says
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) has said the Israeli military has boarded its Gaza-bound aid ship carrying Greta Thunberg and that communication with the boat has been lost. The group posted a photo on Telegram early Monday local time, showing members of the crew of the 'Madleen' sitting inside the boat wearing lifejackets and with their hands in the air. No Israel Defense Force soldiers can be seen in the image. In an earlier post, the FFC said the ship had come 'under assault in international waters.' 'Quadcopters are surrounding the ship, spraying it with a white paint-like substance. Communications are jammed, and disturbing sounds are being played over the radio,' FFC said on its Telegram channel. Israel has repeatedly vowed to stop the aid boat from reaching Gaza. 'I have instructed the IDF to ensure that the 'Madleen' flotilla does not reach Gaza,' Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said on Sunday. 'Just a short while ago, two Israeli drones were above the FFC Madleen and dropped or sprayed some sort of white chemical on the Madleen. Now the Madleen seems to be surrounded by Israeli naval commandos,' Huwaida Arraf, Freedom Flotilla organizer and steering committee member and US human rights lawyer, told CNN. In a video livestreamed from the boat and posted by the FFC, activist Yasmin Acar showed a white substance on the deck, saying it had been dropped on the vessel. Acar was later heard saying it was affecting her eyes. Before the live stream ended, Acar could be heard saying the Israeli military was communicating with the board Israel vowed on Sunday to stop the aid boat carrying Thunberg and other activists on board from reaching Gaza. The 'Madleen' is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an organization that has campaigned against Israel's blockade of Gaza and tried to break the siege by boat. Climate activist Thunberg, 'Game of Thrones' actor Liam Cunningham and Rima Hassan – a French member of the European Parliament - are among those on the Madleen. 'We know that it's a very risky mission and we know that previous experiences with flotillas like this have resulted in attacks, violence and even cases of death,' Thunberg told CNN on Saturday. Israel's Foreign Ministry posted video on X showing a Navy staffer issuing what appears to be a radio message to the vessel. 'The maritime zone off the coast of Gaza is closed to maritime traffic,' the unidentified Navy staff member is heard saying. She is later heard saying aid needs to be delivered through 'established channels.' In a statement, the ministry said 'unauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts.' 'We call on all actors to act responsibly and to channel humanitarian aid through legitimate, coordinated mechanisms, not through provocation,' the ministry added in a statement on Monday local time. This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN
20 minutes ago
- CNN
Israel has boarded Gaza-bound aid ship carrying Greta Thunberg, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition says
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) has said the Israeli military has boarded its Gaza-bound aid ship carrying Greta Thunberg and that communication with the boat has been lost. The group posted a photo on Telegram early Monday local time, showing members of the crew of the 'Madleen' sitting inside the boat wearing lifejackets and with their hands in the air. No Israel Defense Force soldiers can be seen in the image. In an earlier post, the FFC said the ship had come 'under assault in international waters.' 'Quadcopters are surrounding the ship, spraying it with a white paint-like substance. Communications are jammed, and disturbing sounds are being played over the radio,' FFC said on its Telegram channel. Israel has repeatedly vowed to stop the aid boat from reaching Gaza. 'I have instructed the IDF to ensure that the 'Madleen' flotilla does not reach Gaza,' Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said on Sunday. 'Just a short while ago, two Israeli drones were above the FFC Madleen and dropped or sprayed some sort of white chemical on the Madleen. Now the Madleen seems to be surrounded by Israeli naval commandos,' Huwaida Arraf, Freedom Flotilla organizer and steering committee member and US human rights lawyer, told CNN. In a video livestreamed from the boat and posted by the FFC, activist Yasmin Acar showed a white substance on the deck, saying it had been dropped on the vessel. Acar was later heard saying it was affecting her eyes. Before the live stream ended, Acar could be heard saying the Israeli military was communicating with the board Israel vowed on Sunday to stop the aid boat carrying Thunberg and other activists on board from reaching Gaza. The 'Madleen' is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an organization that has campaigned against Israel's blockade of Gaza and tried to break the siege by boat. Climate activist Thunberg, 'Game of Thrones' actor Liam Cunningham and Rima Hassan – a French member of the European Parliament - are among those on the Madleen. 'We know that it's a very risky mission and we know that previous experiences with flotillas like this have resulted in attacks, violence and even cases of death,' Thunberg told CNN on Saturday. Israel's Foreign Ministry posted video on X showing a Navy staffer issuing what appears to be a radio message to the vessel. 'The maritime zone off the coast of Gaza is closed to maritime traffic,' the unidentified Navy staff member is heard saying. She is later heard saying aid needs to be delivered through 'established channels.' In a statement, the ministry said 'unauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts.' 'We call on all actors to act responsibly and to channel humanitarian aid through legitimate, coordinated mechanisms, not through provocation,' the ministry added in a statement on Monday local time. This is a developing story and will be updated.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China's Rare Earths Weapon Could Kill Europe's Auto Industry
China earlier this year introduced restrictions on its exports of rare earths. The move marked a new stage in the US- China trade spat, when the two sides no longer tried to out-tariff each other but took to more concrete steps. The problem is, the restrictions don't just apply to U.S. companies. And they may well deliver the fatal blow to Europe's struggling auto industry. China controls 90% of the world's rare earths processing capacity. It is the indisputable, if not exactly celebrated in the West, master of the rare earths industry. And now, it is using this position to make a point to trade partners that have gone above and beyond to restrict Chinese exports to their own countries and regions—essentially the same thing that Washington does when it uses the dominance of the dollar to sanction governments it doesn't see eye to eye with. Rare earths are used in a perhaps surprisingly wide variety of products. More specifically, it's rare-earth magnets that are troubling carmakers on both sides of the ocean. 'Without reliable access to these elements and magnets, automotive suppliers will be unable to produce critical automotive components, including automatic transmissions, throttle bodies, alternators, various motors, sensors, seat belts, speakers, lights, motors, power steering, and cameras,' the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry body, wrote in a letter addressed to the Trump administration in early May. The letter, cited by Reuters in a recent report on the rare earths restrictions, is one of what looks like a cry for help that is only going to get louder. It was signed by auto industry leaders including Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors, which thanked the administration for trying to resolve the issue. If they didn't, the carmakers said, it would be only a matter of time before car factories started shutting same is happening in Europe, and it's worse—because with Trump, U.S. carmakers no longer have to worry about EVs. With the current European parliament and the Commission, local carmakers do have to worry about EVs, a lot. Because EVs feature greater amounts of those rare earths than internal combustion engine cars. And European carmakers have been mandated with the production and sale of certain minimum numbers of these EVs over the next three years. 'I informed my Chinese counterpart about the alarming situation in the EU car industry — the rare earth and permanent magnets are essential for industrial production… this is extremely disruptive for industry,' the European Union's trade commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, said this week, as quoted by the Financial Times. He added that the 'Carmakers are warning of huge production difficulties in a short period of time.' The clock, in other words, is ticking and China does not really seem in a hurry to stop it. The restrictions that Beijing implemented in mid-April are not literal—or direct. They are in the form of a new licensing regime for anyone who wants to buy rare earth magnets from Chinese producers. To do that, the prospective buyer needs to apply for a license, provide a substantial amount of information, and wait. As a Bosch spokesperson described it, the application process was 'complex and time-consuming, partly due to the need to collect and provide a lot of information.' Because of this complexity, only a few car parts suppliers have been granted such licenses, making the car companies' freak-out only a matter of time, really. But this is coming at a really bad time for European carmakers, despite the substantial rise in EV sales. They are still to turn in a solid profit on their electric cars and they are supposed to be making ever more of these—which means a lot more rare earths. Things are not that swell in the United States, either, after President Donald Trump accused the Chinese of violating a deal the two earlier agreed, on the temporary relaxation of trade warfare, including tariffs and other trade restrictions—only to be slapped back with the accusation that he did that first, by restricting semiconductor exports. Things are not looking good for the car industry right now but there is, as always, a silver lining. It consists in the fact that the world is entirely dependent on a single source of rare earths and this is not a sustainable or secure state of affairs. There has been a lot of talk in both Europe and the United States about building their own supply chains in such critical materials but action has not really been forthcoming. Even if it was, building a supply chain from scratch takes many years—just ask China. Yet the rare earths drama may boost Europe's resolve to actually start working on that supply chain, however long it takes to build it. Import dependence can be fatal. By Irina Slav for More Top Reads From this article on
