JCRC is saddened and alarmed by the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado against a “Run for their Lives” group marching for the release of the over 50 hostages still being held in captivity in Gaza. Gasoline and Molotov cocktails were hurled at participants, injuring at least eight people, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor. This vicious act of terror targeting Jewish community members engaged in peaceful advocacy follows other disturbing incidents of antisemitic violence, including the recent shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. and the firebombing of a Jewish governor’s home during Passover.
Combined with recent incidents locally - these acts are part of a dangerous and escalating trend. The Jewish community in St. Louis and across the country is rightfully feeling vulnerable and afraid.
Make no mistake, the normalization of these heinous acts - and the extremist activism behind them - is completely unacceptable.
JCRC will continue to work tirelessly with our local and national partners to advocate for a new normal – one where antisemitism and false narratives about Jews and Israelis are questioned, doubted, and stopped in their tracks - rather than accepted without pause.
We will continue to counter these false perceptions of Jews through our Student-to-Student presentations, our interfaith dialogue groups, and our direct partnerships with local schools – all places where we address how hate aimed at Jews and Israel grows from the same common seeds of myth and conspiracy theories.
We can’t thank our interfaith and civic partners enough for reaching out over these past weeks and commit to continuing our work in coalition to combat antisemitism - and fight hate, bias and bigotry of all kinds. The violence that is the natural result of unchecked hate and antisemitism must end. Today!
