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Run for Their Lives Boulder co-head Bruce Shaffer: “We will not be deterred or stopped by this kind of action; canceling the march is exactly what these people want us to do.”
By Shula Rosen, United with Israel
Although hostage demonstrators in Boulder admitted to feeling fear, anger, and pain following Sunday’s terror attack, they insist they are undeterred and expect large numbers at next week’s hostage demonstration.
Bruce Shaffer, co-lead for the Boulder chapter of Run For Their Lives, told Times of Israel, “We will not be deterred or stopped by this kind of action; canceling the march is exactly what these people want us to do.”
After a terrorist wounded 12 participants with a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails, the national chapter of Run for Their Lives temporarily suspended all activities to avoid copycat attacks.
However, the organization later decided to allow regional chapters to determine how to proceed in cooperation with local authorities.
Rachel Amaru, head of the Boulder chapter, said that a substantial police presence will be around the central Pearl Street pedestrian mall ahead of next Sunday’s march.
Representatives from Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum are expected to attend the event and speak in solidarity.
Shaffer, whose family members were set on fire during the attack, said, “There is a lot of pain and trauma, and the victims need their privacy right now.”
Several victims, including an 88-year-old, were hospitalized with severe burns.
The United States District Court charged 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman with a federal hate crime.
According to an FBI affidavit, “He stated that he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,” adding that Soliman vowed to “do it again.”
The affidavit also mentioned, “Throughout the interview, Soliman stated that he hated the Zionist group … and needed to stop them from taking over ‘our land,” which he explained to be Palestine.”
The father of five said he planned the attack a year ago but delayed it until after his daughter’s graduation.
Soliman said he learned to make Molotov cocktails on YouTube.
At the site, authorities found 14 undeployed makeshift Molotov cocktails “comprised of glass wine carafe bottles or Ball jars containing clear liquid and red rags hanging out of the bottles.”
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