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Floor Speech

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Mr. HICKENLOOPER. Mr. President, our Colorado community is reeling from a heinous hate crime against the Jewish community in Boulder, CO.

On Sunday, 12 Coloradans were badly injured after a suspect threw Molotov cocktails, incendiary devices, into a crowd, specifically targeting the Jewish people there--a targeted, anti-Semitic attack.

The 12 individuals were part of a peaceful march in Boulder that happens every week to call for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

The suspect has since told investigators that he planned the terrorist attack for over a year; that he specifically wanted to target the Run for Their Lives group, this group that had been meeting every week lobbying for the release of hostages.

Bottom line, this attack was not random. It was a deliberate hate crime against the Jewish community that was planned for months. The scope of that hatred is unconscionable.

These were men and women who dedicated their time to advocating for innocent hostages who have been now held in captivity for over 600 days. Most importantly, the demonstrators were motivated by a desire for peace and were operating in a peaceful fashion.

Let me repeat that. These men and women wanted peace. Instead, they were met with horrifying and senseless violence.

The upswing in violence targeting the Jewish community needs to be condemned at every level. And now, anti-Semitism and the hate that comes with it has taken root at home in Colorado. But Colorado is not alone. Our country is still mourning the recent assassination of two Israeli Embassy staff members who were shot as they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum just a little over a week ago.

And just this past April, the Pennsylvania Governor's mansion was firebombed as Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family celebrated Passover inside.

These are just a few of the recent and most visible anti-Semitic attacks. According to the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents have reached a record high since the October 7, 2023, attack.

It is absolutely unacceptable for anti-Semitism to exist in our country. And yet, the Jewish community in Colorado and the Jewish community across the United States has to live with the daily fear of targeted terrorist attacks and escalading calls for violence against the Jewish people.

We need to do more to protect the Jewish community in Colorado and across the country and make sure that they feel safe in the aftermath of this horrific attack.

Across the country, Jewish people are angry. They are terrified. Jewish Coloradans woke up this morning feeling unsafe--unsafe to go to school, unsafe to go to work--wondering what and if there is a path forward.

In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote:

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.

Colorado has always been a State that embraces difference and always will be. The answer to this violence is not to turn to the comfort of simple or black-and-white answers, backing into our corners and spreading more fear and more hatred. Now is the time to double down on our commitment to unity in the face of our differences. It is the only way we can guarantee safety and peace for our Jewish community and for every community.

Now, what does that mean in real terms? It means fully investigating this hate crime and making sure the suspect is fully prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It means zero tolerance for anti-Semitism in Colorado schools, our workplaces, or in our public spaces. It means taking a lesson from the 12 demonstrators who were victims in Sunday's attack. Through peaceful action, they stood up for their beliefs, supported one another, and helped our country take small but meaningful steps forward. They wanted to end this descending spiral of violence. The rest of us should too.

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