DENVER — State leaders across the political spectrum condemned Sunday’s targeted attack in Boulder and called for more to be done to combat antisemitism. At the same time, Republican lawmakers began pointing fingers and suggested state laws were partially responsible for the attack.
Like most people in Colorado, state senators Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Judy Amabile are still trying to make sense of the attack.
“We're talking about firebombs,” said Michaelson Jenet. “That's not something that happens in America.”
Amabile represents Boulder and is very familiar with Run for Their Lives, the group that was peacefully calling for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
“I've walked with this group,” said Amabile. “They start about a block from my house and they've been doing it since October 7th, peacefully walking from 8th and Pearl down to the courthouse."
She's referencing the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023 that launched the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Omer Shacha, the co-leader of the Denver and Boulder Run for Their Lives groups, said the Colorado walks have taken place since November of that year, a few weeks after those attacks.
Amabile and Michaelson Jenet, who's a prominent member of Colorado’s Jewish community, say the attack comes as antisemitism has been on the rise in Boulder and across Colorado.
“People are scared, and they don't know what's gonna happen next, and that's a terrible place for our community to be,” said Amabile.
The Anti-Defamation League says there were 279 antisemitic incidents in Colorado last year. In 2023, there were 198. In 2022, there were 71.
"So we've been seeing this happen and seeing this rhetoric and not seeing a lot of people condemning it,” said Michaelson Jenet.
- Below is a map of 2024 antisemitic incidents in Colorado. Locations are broken down by city — locations are not exact.
State Rep. Ron Weinberg, another Jewish lawmaker, said he’s also deeply concerned about antisemitism.
"This is not something that can be fixed overnight, and knowledge is power at the end of the day,” said Weinberg.
The Republican lawmaker from Loveland said as Coloradans try searching for answers, it's worth looking at state laws that he said made things easier for the suspect.
"We need to get back to law and order,” said Weinberg. “Every single session that I've gone through – and I've just been through my third – we're writing bills that are protecting this individual.”
Weinberg said SB25-276, which provides additional protections to immigrants by further limiting local and state cooperation with federal immigration authorities, is a prime example. He said the bill gave “constitutional rights to this immigrant from Egypt.”
Weinberg denied he was playing politics over the attack.
“No one's making anything political,” he said. “I want to protect citizens in the state of Colorado.”
Throughout the day, Colorado Republicans, including Congressmen Gabe Evans and Jeff Crank and State Rep. Jarvis Caldwell, joined Weinberg in seeking to link the attack to state laws. In addition, many people commenting under Gov. Jared Polis's social media posts blamed him and Democrats.
The Scripps News Group asked Gov. Polis for his response to what Republicans were saying.
“The suspect who has been apprehended is to blame for this terrorist incident, full stop,” Polis said.
Democrats like Michaelson Jenet and Amabile say now is not the time to focus on politics.
“It's not about politics, it's about antisemitism – plain and simple,” said Michaelson Jenet.
“It's not the place to be playing politics with this,” said Amabile. “What we all should be doing, what all of the leaders in this state should be doing, is talking about how we can come together, how we can end this divisiveness because it is, it is coming at a very high cost.”
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