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A man with a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails attacked a peaceful march in Boulder, Colo., Sunday afternoon. The participants were raising awareness of hostages still held by Hamas fighters after the militant group’s deadly 2023 raid on Israel.

The suspect in Sunday’s rampage allegedly yelled, “Free Palestine!” as he attacked. Eight people, ranging in age from 52 to 88, were wounded. Two were flown to a Denver-area hospital with severe burns. One is a Holocaust survivor, according to news reports.

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We cannot fathom how such mindless violence helps the Palestinian cause. We cannot imagine how the attack was anything other than an antisemitic hate crime; legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy does not include incendiary assaults on civilians in the United States. We do, however, understand that Hamas’ devotion to bloodshed rather than the hard work of negotiation and peace has attracted supporters in this country.

The Colorado incident was the third high-profile antisemitic attack in the last two months. On April 13, an arsonist broke into the official residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and set several fires while Shapiro and his family slept. Shapiro is Jewish.

The suspect, who may have mental illness, told police investigators he was upset with Shapiro’s statements about the war in Gaza.

Two weeks ago, a gunman shot and killed Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Both were on the staff of the Israeli Embassy.

The alleged killer chanted, “free Palestine,” after he was caught.

And then, on Sunday, a 45-year-old Egyptian man who had overstayed his nonimmigrant visa arrived at the regularly scheduled, silent march in Boulder with homemade incendiary devices.

The people he attacked were members of the group Run for Their Lives.

The organization has local branches in two dozen countries.

Its website emphasizes repeatedly that participants should be peaceful and polite — no protests, no politics — and should not block roads or disturb neighbors. Run for Their Lives just wants the hostages released.

There is moral clarity in this situation.

Hamas militants launched their attack on Israel in October 2023 to interrupt the progress Israel and Saudi Arabia were making toward normalizing relations.

Hamas fighters slaughtered more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and took about 250 hostages.

They killed men, women and children and filmed themselves doing it.

We do not defend all of Israel’s actions in response to the Hamas attack. Gaza’s health ministry reports that more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes and other military operations.

Civilians are starving, and swaths of Gaza have been left in rubble and ruin.

Sunday’s attack did absolutely nothing to stop all that suffering. It just added more victims.

— The Dallas Morning News