Opinion: Don’t let Boulder terror attack snuff out walkers’ humanitarian cause

Boulder County Courthouse near where terror attack occurred (Quentin Young photo).

Ever since 251 people were taken hostage during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, a group of residents in Boulder have refused to let the community forget the people who were abducted.

The group is the local chapter of the global Run For Their Lives, which organizes events calling for the release of the hostages. Participants in the Boulder chapter have demonstrated by walking in the city’s downtown area every week — 80 weeks so far — since November 2023.

Their walk on Sunday came on the 604th day since the hostages were taken. It also marked the first time they encountered violence. An assailant attacked the demonstrators with a flamethrower and crude homemade bombs in what federal prosecutors say was an antisemitic hate crime.

The attack came amid rising antisemitism throughout the country and followed other recent acts of violence against Jews. The threat of more violence is real. It’s uncertain when the group will walk again.

The tragedy is compounded to the extent terror muzzles the group’s message.

Run For Their Lives is nonviolent and nonpolitical. It is not pro-Israel. It is not anti-Palestine. It has a single purpose, which no person of conscience should find objectionable: to raise awareness and call for the release of hostages. There are still 58 hostages in Gaza, including four Americans. Roughly 20 are believed to be alive, and group members want the remains of the rest to be given a proper burial.

“This is an international humanitarian crisis, where people from many varying backgrounds and religions and ethnicities were taken hostage. They were not just Israelis,” Shari Weiss, global coordinator of Run For Their Lives, said during an interview this week on WBUR.

She acknowledged the horrors that have befallen Gaza as Israeli forces continue military operations that have resulted in more than 50,000 deaths, most of the territory destroyed, and unspeakable hardship among survivors. 

“The same people do understand the suffering of the Palestinian people and do understand that they are going through something extremely traumatic. You can absolutely hold space for that at the same time,” Weiss said.

When members of the group demonstrate in Boulder, they walk silently for 18 minutes, the number value of the word “chai,” Hebrew for “life.” Many of the participants are older adults (the age range of victims is 52 to 88). They carry photos of the hostages.

Tara Winer, a member of the Boulder City Council, sometimes joins the group on their walks.

“It’s not a protest, it’s not a march. Nobody talks, nobody does anything except walk,” said Winer, who is Jewish. “I’m upset about the hostages, who are still there. So it’s just a way to remind myself about them and also to remind my community about them.”

Many participants have friends and family in Israel.

“They do not want people to forget these hostages … And this is their way of keeping their memory alive,” Winer said. “I know on the walks I go to sometimes they mention all the people who have died in captivity. They mention the hostages by name. They say them by name, so people won’t forget.”

She was not on the walk Sunday. She described the victims as “good friends.”

Police said 12 people were injured in the attack, and at least one was in critical condition, but all are expected to survive.

Run For Their Lives organizers intend to continue the walks, though they might stop for a time until adequate security can be ensured. Whatever the group’s future, the Boulder and Colorado communities can sustain its humanitarian message. Terrorism succeeds only when its target is cowed or diminished.

There is a way everyone who is horrified by the attack in Boulder can honor the victims and take a stand against terror: Remember the hostages.

Editor’s note: This opinion column first appeared on Colorado Newsline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com.