Israeli hostages highlighted at Boulder Jewish Festival after attack on group urging their release

Israeli hostages highlighted at Boulder Jewish Festival after attack on group urging their release
Former Colorado State Sen. Steve Fenberg marches with his daughter Isa in Boulder, Colo., on Sunday, June 8, 2025, to call for the release of Israeli hostages. (AP)
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Updated 09 June 2025
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Israeli hostages highlighted at Boulder Jewish Festival after attack on group urging their release

Israeli hostages highlighted at Boulder Jewish Festival after attack on group urging their release
  • Demonstrators handed out stickers stamped with “611,” representing the 611 days since the first Israeli hostages were taken by Hamas militants

BOULDER, Colorado: For the 611 days since Omri Miran was taken hostage by Hamas, his family has lived in fear, his brother-in-law told those gathered at the Boulder Jewish Festival on Sunday, one week after a man firebombed a group calling for the release of Israeli hostages at the mall where Moshe Lavi now spoke.
“We received only partial, limited and at times horrifying proof of life,” Lavi said to a hushed crowd. “We don’t know how much he’s suffering, deprived of food, water, sunlight, tortured, abused, as I speak to you now.”
For its 30th year, the Jewish cultural festival centered on the stories of Israeli hostages after authorities said man who yelled “Free Palestine” threw Molotov cocktails at Boulder demonstrators calling for their release. Festival organizers said they reimagined it to focus on healing and center the group’s cause — raising awareness of the 55 people believed to still be in captivity in Gaza.
Authorities said 15 people and a dog were victims of the attack at the Pearl Street pedestrian mall. They include eight women and seven men, ranging in age from 25 to 88. One is a Holocaust survivor.
Not all were physically injured, and some are considered victims for the legal case because they were present and could potentially have been hurt.
Run for Their Lives, the group targeted in the attack, started in October 2023 after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. The Boulder chapter, one of 230 worldwide, walks at the mall every weekend for 18 minutes, the numerical value of the Hebrew word “chai,” which means “life.”
Several hundred people joined the Sunday walk that typically draws only a couple dozen. Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper was among the participants. Demonstrators handed out stickers stamped with “611,” representing the 611 days since the first Israeli hostages were taken by Hamas militants.
On a stage near the site of the attack, hundreds gathered to listen to speakers and songs. Vendors sold traditional Jewish and Israeli cuisine. In tents marked “Hostage Square,” rows of chairs sat empty save for photos of the hostages and the exhortation “Bring them home now!”
Lavi thanked local demonstrators for their bravery in advocating for his family. He described Miran as a gentle and loving gardener, husband and father to two young children.
Merav Tsubely, an Israeli-American who came to the festival from a city north of Boulder, watched as hostages’ families thanked those gathered in recorded video messages. One of Miran’s children appeared on screen and said in Hebrew, “When daddy comes back from Gaza, he’ll take me to kindergarten.”
“Just seeing them speaking to us, here, with all they’re going through, their supporting us is kind of mind blowing,” Tsubely said, her eyes welling. “It just reminds us how connected we all are.”
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was charged for the attack Thursday in Colorado state court with 118 counts, including attempted murder, assault, illegal use of explosives and animal cruelty. He was also charged with a hate crime in federal court.
Soliman, an Egyptian national who federal authorities say was living in the US illegally, told police he was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people,” a reference to the movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.
The violence in downtown Boulder unfolded against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, which continues to inflame global tensions and has contributed to a spike in antisemitism in the US It also came at the start of the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai in Egypt.
US immigration officials took Soliman’s wife and five children, who also are Egyptian, into custody Tuesday. They have not been charged in the attack. A federal judge on Wednesday granted a request to block their deportation.
The Boulder Police Department and the FBI coordinated to provide increased security at the festival as well as local synagogues and the Boulder Jewish Community Center. Officers guarded the event’s entrances, and police Chief Stephen Redfearn said some plainclothes officers would be present in the crowd. On a rooftop near the stage, three held rifles and used binoculars to monitor the crowd as drones buzzed overhead.
Matan Gold-Edelstein’s father was present last weekend and helped douse the fire that burned an older woman. Gold-Edelstein, a 19-year-old college student, said the well-attended festival was a great show of humanity, regardless of religion or politics.
“We’re not here to be in support of a war,” he said. “We’re here in support of our religion, in support of our people and in support of the innocent people who are still being held hostage.”


Former Iranian economy minister calls for Iranian control over Strait of Hormuz

Former Iranian economy minister calls for Iranian control over Strait of Hormuz
Updated 10 sec ago
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Former Iranian economy minister calls for Iranian control over Strait of Hormuz

Former Iranian economy minister calls for Iranian control over Strait of Hormuz
  • Ehsan Khandouzi: ‘This policy is decisive if implemented on time. Any delay in carrying it out means prolonging war inside the country’
DUBAI: Former Iranian Economy Minister Ehsan Khandouzi has said that tankers and LNG cargoes should only transit the Strait of Hormuz with Iranian permission and this policy should be carried out “tomorrow for a hundred days.”
It was not immediately clear whether Khandouzi was echoing the establishment’s decision or sharing his personal opinion.
“This policy is decisive if implemented on time. Any delay in carrying it out means prolonging war inside the country,” Khandouzi posted on X on Tuesday.
Iran’s Oil Ministry and Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gaza rescuers say 30 killed by Israel fire

Gaza rescuers say 30 killed by Israel fire
Updated 41 min 28 sec ago
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Gaza rescuers say 30 killed by Israel fire

Gaza rescuers say 30 killed by Israel fire
  • Civil defense spokesman says 11 people were killed and more than 100 wounded “after the occupation forces opened fire and launched several shells... at thousands of citizens”

GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency said 30 people were killed by Israeli fire in the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, including 11 who were seeking aid.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 11 people were killed and more than 100 wounded “after the occupation forces opened fire and launched several shells... at thousands of citizens” who had gathered to queue for food in central Gaza.
In early March, Israel imposed a total aid blockade on Gaza amid deadlock in truce negotiations, only partially easing restrictions in late May.
Since then, chaotic scenes and a string of deadly shootings have occurred near areas where Palestinians have gathered in hope of receiving aid.
The civil defense agency said another 19 people were killed in three Israeli strikes on Wednesday, which it said targeted houses and a tent for displaced people.
When asked for comment by AFP, the Israeli military said it was “looking into” the reports.
Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency.
The UN humanitarian office OCHA said on Monday that its partners “continue to warn of the risk of famine in Gaza, amid catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity.”
The civil defense agency reported that at least 53 people were killed on Tuesday, as they gathered near an aid center in the southern city of Khan Yunis hoping to receive flour.
After Israel eased its blockade, the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began distributing aid in late May, but its operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and dozens of deaths.
In a statement on Tuesday, the organization said that “to date, not a single incident has occurred at or in the surrounding vicinity of GHF sites nor has an incident occurred during our operating hours.”
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
The Hamas attack which triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to Israeli official figures.
The Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday that 5,194 people have been killed since Israel resumed major operations in the territory on March 18, ending a two-month truce.
The overall death toll in Gaza since the war broke out has reached 55,493 people, according to the health ministry.


Ship collision off UAE coast due to navigational misjudgment: Ministry of Energy

Ship collision off UAE coast due to navigational misjudgment: Ministry of Energy
Updated 54 min 28 sec ago
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Ship collision off UAE coast due to navigational misjudgment: Ministry of Energy

Ship collision off UAE coast due to navigational misjudgment: Ministry of Energy

DUBAI: Tuesday’s collision between two ships in the Sea of Oman was due to a ‘navigational misjudgment by one of the vessels’, the UAE’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure said on Wednesday, citing preliminary information.

The oil tanker named Adalynn, flying the flag of Antigua and Barbuda, and the vessel named Front Eagle, flying the flag of Liberia, collided and caught fire approximately 24 nautical miles (44.448km) off the coast of the UAE, the ministry said in a report by state news agency WAM.

 

 

The incident caused minor surface damage to the outer hulls of both ships, a small oil spill, and a fire that broke out in the fuel tank of one of the ships. No injuries were reported among the crew members of either vessel, the ministry added.

UAE coastguard personnel evacuated 24 crew members from the Adalynn to the port of Khor Fakkan.

A technical investigation was underway in coordination with relevant international bodies, the ministry noted.


Use of US bunker-buster bomb looms over Iran conflict

Use of US bunker-buster bomb looms over Iran conflict
Updated 18 June 2025
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Use of US bunker-buster bomb looms over Iran conflict

Use of US bunker-buster bomb looms over Iran conflict
  • The GBU-57 is a 30,000-pound warhead capable of penetrating 200 feet underground before exploding
  • It is missing from Israel’s arsenal despite its stated goal of preventing Iran from building a nuclear bomb

WASHINGTON: A powerful American bunker-busting bomb is the only weapon capable of destroying Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities, making it President Donald Trump’s weapon of choice if he chooses to militarily back Israel.

The GBU-57, a 30,000-pound (13,607 kg) warhead capable of penetrating 200 feet (61 meters) underground before exploding, is missing from Israel’s arsenal despite its stated goal of preventing Iran from building a nuclear bomb.

In less than a week, the Israeli army has taken out Iranian military commanders and damaged numerous surface installations, raising more questions than answers.

“The regime’s missile stockpiles, launchers, military bases, production facilities, nuclear scientists, military command and control has taken a very severe beating,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, director of the Iran program at the Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a conservative-leaning group.

“But there are still outsized questions as to how efficacious of a strike Israel had against the beating hearts of Iran’s nuclear program,” Taleblu said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported no damage at Fordo, a uranium enrichment plant south of Tehran. Unlike the Natanz and Isfahan sites in central Iran, Fordo is buried deep underground, beyond the reach of Israeli bombs.

“All eyes will be on Fordo, which is buried under about 300 feet of rock in central Iran,” Taleblu said.

Former US Army lieutenant general and Rand Corporation defense researcher Mark Schwartz insists that “only the United States has the conventional capacity” to destroy such a site.

And by “conventional capacity,” he means the non-nuclear GBU-57 bomb.

The US military says the GBU-57 – also named Massive Ordnance Penetrator – “is designed to penetrate up to 200 feet underground before exploding,” navigating through rock and concrete.

This differs from missiles or bombs that typically detonate their payload near or upon impact.

“To defeat these deeply buried targets, these weapons need to be designed with rather thick casings of steel, hardened steel, to sort of punch through these layers of rock,” said Masao Dahlgren, a fellow working on missile defense for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based research center.

The 6.6-meter-long GBU-57 also has a specialized fuse because “you need an explosive that’s not going to immediately explode under that much shock and pressure,” Dahlgren said.

Design for this bomb began in the early 2000s, and an order for 20 units was placed with Boeing in 2009.

The only aircraft capable of deploying the GBU-57 is an American B-2 Bomber, a stealth aircraft.

Some of these bombers were deployed in early May on Diego Garcia, the site of a joint UK-US military base in the Indian Ocean, but were no longer visible by mid-June, according to AFP’s analysis of satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs.

With their long-range capabilities, B-2s departing from the United States “are able to fly all the way to the Middle East to do bombing runs. That’s been done before,” Dahlgren said.

Each B-2 can carry two GBU-57 bombs, and Schwartz said multiple bombs will likely be needed.

“They’re not going to just be one and done,” he said.

Schwartz added that the air superiority Israel has established over Iran reduces the risks faced by the B-2 bombers.

Such a US intervention would come with “a lot of political baggage for America,” Taleblu said, emphasizing that the bunker-buster bomb is not the only way to address Iran’s nuclear program.

Without the GBU-57 bombs, and short of a diplomatic solution, Taleblu said Israelis could attack access to underground complexes like Fordo by “trying to hit entrances, collapse what they can, cut electricity” and take other measures that have already been taken at Natanz.


Syrian farmers pay price of worst drought in decades

Syrian farmers pay price of worst drought in decades
Updated 18 June 2025
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Syrian farmers pay price of worst drought in decades

Syrian farmers pay price of worst drought in decades
  • One fruit grower forced to chop down dead pear trees and use them for firewood

DAMASCUS: Syria’s worst drought in decades is taking a devastating toll on the agricultural region of Al-Nashabiyah east of Damascus.
Water reserves are down by more than 60 percent on previous years, levels in dams in March were lower than the past two years, and some areas have lost more than 70 percent of their groundwater reserves.
Farmer Mati Mohammed Nasser expects to lose his whole harvest of wheat, pears, plums and other fruit and vegetables. He usually picks about 200 kg of pears a year from trees he has raised from seedlings, but this year he will chop down the dead trees and use them for firewood.
He paid almost $2,000 to dig a deep well, but the water was only a couple of centimeters deep.
“What are we supposed to do with that?” he said. “We have lost hope. We sold everything we had and invested it into the land.”

Another farmer, Al-Nashabiyah’s deputy mayor Mahmoud Al-Hobeish, is $4,000 in debt. “People are asking for it and they know I cannot pay,” he said.