Last Sunday, Aug. 31, people met in Boulder, as they have been every Sunday since shortly after Oct. 7, 2023, to walk and raise awareness for the hostages still being held in Gaza by Hamas.
But this walk was different.
The group chose not to publicly announce its meeting point or route. The reason: to protect its members from aggressive harassment that had been growing in recent weeks.
Another reason: “To empower our group to keep walking without being harassed,” says Rachel Amaru, founder of the Boulder chapter of Run For Their Lives.
“This has been our humanitarian mission from the beginning.”
The ability to remain a peaceful walk in the public eye changed on June 1, 2025 when the walk was firebombed by Mohamed Sabry Soliman. One of the participants, Karen Diamond, later died of her injuries.
Despite facing a deadly attack, the group did not falter and continued walking weekly, as it has since Thanksgiving, 2023. Following the deadly June 1 terror attack, thousands joined the group in solidarity for its weekly walk on Sunday, June 8.
But in recent weeks, verbal harassment from counter protesters escalated, with violent expletives lobbed against the group.
According to the group, tensions had escalated throughout August, leading to the decision to go private.
Protests at the Aug. 17 walk were “extremely aggressive and triggering to members of the group, and caused concern that future walks on the mall were not going to be able to be the peaceful, humanitarian ones that the group has aimed for since its beginning,” says Amaru.
At the Aug. 10 walk, Aaron Stone, a candidate for Boulder City Council, held up a sign accusing Israel of genocide.
The following week, the same City Council candidate, along with a few others, tailed the group on its walk, reciting the names of Palestinian children followed by “Murdered by the IDF” and “death to the IDF.”
One protester yelled at a 12-year-old boy who was walking with the group: “They’re killing kids as old as you! Do you know that? How do you feel about that?”
Also last month, open comment at a Boulder City Council meeting on Aug. 7, the first since May to allow public comment, was dominated by accusations against Israel using incendiary language, including comparisons of Israel to the Nazi regime.
Following open comment at the Aug. 21 city council meeting, Jewish community members were again verbally harassed. Shortly after, videos began circulating with footage of Stone and others verbally harassing the group.
Although the run itself was not targeted at City Council, organizers determined that going private was necessary to protect its members from harassment and verbal assault while being able to continue the weekly meeting.
In a statement issued Aug. by the JCRC announcing the group’s decision to go private, Stefanie Clarke of Stop Antisemitism Colorado said:
“The fact that someone seeking a seat on City Council is at the center of this harassment should be cause for alarm.
“Boulder cannot claim to be a city of inclusion and justice while giving a platform to Jew hate.”
Said Brandon Rattiner, JCRC senior director:
“We call on everyone who condemned the dehumanization of Jews and the rise of political violence after the attack to stand with us again now.
“Intimidation and hate have no place in Boulder, in Colorado, or in our democracy.”
The JCRC statement garnered national media attention, which didn’t surprise Rattiner, who sees the events in Boulder as something of a clarion call.
“One of the reasons we published the story,” Rattiner told the IJN, was “because we thought there would be a big appetite for it. If an activity like this, three months after it was the target of a deadly attack, is not free from anti-Semitism and crude behavior, where will be?”
But deadly terror and harassment have not stopped the will of the group to continue showing up.
“If anything, walkers seem more determined than ever to return to the mission of this walk,” says Amaru, describing the walkers as “brave, strong and incredibly resilient.
The Aug. 31 walk proceeded without incident and saw support from the Boulder Police Department as well as private security the group hired after June 1.
“I was gratified to see so many people, including local elected officials, come out to show support for the hostages still in Gaza,” said Gali Beh, who led last weekend’s walk.
“Even though we made it logistically more difficult this week by changing the location and time, and not publicly promoting that information, almost 100 people still showed up.
“That is a testament to how strongly so many of us feel about maintaining awareness of this humanitarian crisis and praying with our feet until they all come home.”
Started in the Bay Area shortly after Oct. 7, 2023, Run For Their Lives has grown with chapters across the world, including many in the intermountain region, from New Mexico to Colorado to Utah.
The organization’s mission is to walk in solidarity with the hostages; say their names; and call out for their release.
The walks, which are non-political and intended to be family friendly, started as a way for people to gather in solidarity from far away and from across the world.
Last weekend’s walk came as Israel announced it had recovered two bodies from Gaza of Israeli men who had been killed on Oct. 7, 2023. Both were killed trying to fight off Hamas attackers. The names of Idan Shtivi and Ilan Weiss were among the 50 that Run For Their Lives Boulder had invoked in recent months.
Despite the efforts of some in Boulder to target and even stop the weekly walk, the group remains committed.
Says Amaru: “We plan to continue walking until all 48 hostages are released — and hopefully we will be left in peace.”
