Speakers stood beneath an overcast sky Wednesday morning in the same spot where, three days earlier, an assailant injured at least 15 people in an antisemitic attack with a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices.

“I am angry that someone violated the space and the sanctity created by some of the most dedicated and selfless members of this community as they were holding a march … for 58 people who were stolen from us,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, told hundreds of Boulder residents, local leaders and media from around the world gathered in front of the Boulder County Courthouse.

Greenblatt, Gov. Jared Polis, Boulder Run for their Lives founder Rachel Amaru and Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett were among the speakers at a news conference to show solidarity with the local Jewish community.

Sunday’s attack has thrust the community into the international spotlight with the backdrop of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war nearly 7,000 miles away. Hamas still holds 58 hostages, living and dead, taken in a raid in October of 2023.

The targets of the Pearl Street attack were participating in Run for their Lives, a movement that advocates for the release of those remaining hostages.

“Nobody expects to experience a terrorist attack in such a quiet place like Boulder, Colorado, such a peaceful place,” Israel Bachar, the consul general of Israel to the Pacific Southwest U.S., told the Daily Camera in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Here is the point. The point is that terrorism does not have any boundaries. …

“Eventually, people will pull the trigger or will try to burn other people alive because they believe that they have a moral depravity because of what’s happening in Gaza,” said Bachar, who later in the day was scheduled to attend a vigil for the attacks at Boulder’s Jewish Community Center. “When a terrorist attack occurs here in Boulder, people are surprised. Is it that pervasive? Is this phenomenon everywhere? And that’s why you get this kind of attention.”

The world’s lens has focused on one of the state’s most iconic cities, with national and international media descending on the community.

Bachar, who is based in Los Angeles, arrived in Colorado on Wednesday to — as he put it — show solidarity with the local Jewish community. Before attending the vigil that evening, he visited a victim of the attack in a hospital burn unit.

“She gave me some strength, to be honest,” Bachar told The Denver Post.

Bachar said news of the attack reached the country of Israel hours before a major holiday, Shavuot.

There, “everybody was hectic and frantic and like, ‘What’s going on? How come Boulder, Colorado, is being affected also by a terrorist attack?’ “ Bachar said. “But for us Israelis, you know, it’s not always a surprise because we know that terror does not have boundaries.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters have peppered public meetings in Boulder for months. They’ve accused the Boulder City Council of being complicit in what they say is genocide against the people of Gaza, such as by not issuing a resolution calling for a ceasefire.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that more than 54,000 civilians in Gaza have died in the Israel-Hamas war, which was sparked after an attack by the militant group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis. Hamas has yet to return 58 dead and alive hostages taken during the 2023 raid.

On Wednesday, Bachar referenced those who have been protesting at Boulder council meetings.

“It’s very disturbing, America should not look like that,” Bachar said. “They should look more civil, have a normal discourse.”

Community healing

On Wednesday, the community took the next step in the healing process.

Political, religious and community leaders held their news conference beneath in the courtyard in front of the Boulder County Courthouse, the same spot where the attack occurred.

Marc Soloway, rabbi of the Bonai Shalom synagogue in Boulder, delivered the opening remarks. Some of the victims are members of his congregation and he’s known some of them for 20 years, he said. Soloway, like many of Wednesday’s speakers, focused on the rise of antisemitic attacks and anti-Jewish sentiments across the country.

“We have seen this coming,” he said.

Soloway added that he believes “now is not the time to be pedantic” about the distinction between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.

Ed Victor was participating in the Run for their Lives walk on Sunday when the attack happened. He recounted his experience to the crowd on Wednesday, saying that he remembered hearing a crash and feeling heat. Next thing he knew, a woman was on fire.

“When someone is on fire, it takes too long to put them out,” he said.

Leaders of other faiths spoke as well, including Nader Elmarhoumi of the Islamic Center of Boulder. Elmarhoumi touched on the importance of unity between faiths, especially between Muslims and the Jewish people, through the stories of the Prophet Muhammad.

“That is the Islamic way that I know, that is the Islamic way that Muslims know,” Elmarhoumi said. “And then I thought to myself, if that person on Sunday was supposedly named Mohamed, instead of throwing flammable liquids on people, if he had joined the walk, engaged in meaningful fruitful conversations, trying to understand in order to be understood, then maybe the outcome of that would be (they’d) all be walking in this very beautiful place for the release of hostages and prisoners on both sides so that people overseas can achieve peace and not war.”

Denver Post reporter Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton contributed to this report.