This piece is part of Yellow Scene Magazine’s Opinion section. The views expressed here are those of the author in their role as Publisher, and do not represent a reported news position. At Yellow Scene, opinion pieces speak freely, challenge assumptions, and say the quiet parts out loud. 8/7/25 Updated to reflect that Ryan Schuchard and Nicole Speers’ op-ed was in response to a meme.

The June 1 firebombing on Pearl Street shocked the city. Mohamed Sabry Soliman hurled a makeshift Molotov cocktail into a crowd rallying for the release of Israeli hostages and POWs in Gaza. One person was killed; several others were hospitalized. In the immediate aftermath, Yellow Scene called it, “an act of horror that will take a long time to heal from.”

But in the weeks since, the tragedy has taken on a life of its own. It has become a political litmus test and a flashpoint for how Boulder speaks (or doesn’t) about Gaza, Zionism, and dissent. 

That tension recalls a moment from not so long ago. In the aftermath of September 11, national grief quickly hardened into dogma. Muslims were scapegoated. Civil liberties were stripped. The Bush administration launched wars in the name of security, killing hundreds of thousands. In Boulder, Boulder Weekly published Pamela White’s now-famous cover story, “Why Are We So Hated?” just two days after the attacks. It asked the question few dared to at the time: what motivates our enemies, and what do their grievances say about us?

In that piece, CU professor Ira Chernus cautioned against moral absolutism: “The general assumption is that if you listen to what they say, that endorses [the attack].” But listening, he argued, was essential to preventing future violence. Other voices have echoed the same sentiment. David Barsamian called terrorism “the poor man’s B-52,” highlighting the power imbalance between nations and those who resort to desperate, brutal tactics. Joel Edelstein added, “Americans would not sit quietly if they were treated like the Palestinians are treated by the Israelis,” pointing to the double standards in how suffering and resistance are framed depending on who experiences them.

The parallels in today’s discourse are hard to miss. After 9/11, anyone seen as “disloyal” or critical of U.S. policy was branded un-American, even treasonous. The Dixie Chicks were blacklisted. Journalists were sidelined. Protesters were smeared. Yellow Scene received hate mail and calls for speaking out against invading Iraq. Similarly, in Boulder today, the space to ask uncomfortable questions—about Gaza, about power, about complicity—is rapidly closing.

And just as post-9/11 narratives erased decades of U.S. interventionism to cast America as a blameless victim, today’s narrative risks painting over 74 years of occupation and apartheid that set the stage for October 7th.

Within hours of the Pearl Street attack, leaders across Colorado denounced it as an act of antisemitism. Governor Jared Polis issued a statement. A pledge was circulated among the members of the Boulder City Council. “It was important to stand with our Jewish community,” one council member said. Six members signed immediately.

One didn’t: Councilwoman Taishya Adams. Instead, she released her own statement mourning the tragedy while also addressing the broader political context, particularly with regards to Gaza.

Her refusal sparked outrage, and social media erupted. A petition to remove her from office began circulating. A few days later, councilmembers Mark Wallach and Matt Benjamin published an op-ed accusing Gaza solidarity activists of “abandoning all standards of decency” and engaging in “juvenile, performative politics.” The piece focused on a “Wanted” poster circulating online that criticized council members for refusing to pass a ceasefire resolution or divest city investments from weapons manufacturers.

Wallach and Benjamin claimed the poster implied council members were criminals: “Dead or alive?” they wrote. “This is on the very edge of incitement to violence… This antisemitic characterization of the Council, some members of which are Jewish, is abhorrent, and perhaps the most offensive thing that can be said to a person of the Jewish faith.”

The accusation feels disingenuous. Every council member who opposed a ceasefire resolution, Jewish or not, was included on the poster. The message was clear: refusing to act on Gaza has political consequences. To frame that criticism as antisemitic because some targeted officials are Jewish confuses identity with ideology and erases the fact that many Jews in Boulder are also calling for a ceasefire.

Adams made her position clear. “My decision to withhold my signature from the June 2 city statement did not reflect any lack of empathy or support for Jewish community members – or an attempt to somehow justify the horrific act committed by this individual. Whatever his motivation, violence and terror are NEVER the answer.”

She condemned the attack unequivocally. She met with Jewish constituents to offer support. But she also questioned the framing of the pledge, which she claimed ignored the attacker’s stated motives: both antisemitic and anti-Zionist. 

“If we are to prevent future violence and additional attacks in our community, I believe we need to be real about the possible motivations for this heinous act.” Adams continued, “Denying our community the full truth about the attack denies us the ability to fully protect ourselves and each other.”

That distinction matters. Not because it makes the attack less horrific, but because severing the attack from its political context ensures it will happen again. It is possible to mourn a violent act and still ask what produced it. It is possible to condemn antisemitism and still interrogate Zionism. But in Boulder, attempts to do both are being cast as heresy.

The backlash continued. A second opinion piece—this time from council members Nicole Speer and Ryan Schuchard—accused Adams of posting “antisemitic content” that “minimized and unnecessarily appropriated the Holocaust.” Their response was directed at a meme she shared about the genocide of Native Americans by the United States, which led to the Indigenous population dropping from an estimated 15 million to just 250,000 by 1900.

Yet her official statement made no mention of the Holocaust. Her focus was squarely on Gaza and city investments. The accusation underscores a deeper problem this moment has revealed: the collapse of any distinction between principled criticism of a government and hatred of an entire people. 

That’s the pattern now. Every attempt to analyze this tragedy in its full context, every mention of Gaza, apartheid, or U.S. complicity, is met with accusations of antisemitism. No matter how many disclaimers Adams includes, no matter how clearly she condemns the violence, the label sticks. It is a pervasive black and white way of thinking that justifies erasure.

 CU professor Nathan Schneider, who lost relatives in the Holocaust, called this narrowing of discourse “the unspeakable.” In a widely shared reflection on the Pearl Street attack, he wrote:

“The word antisemitism has shifted from a cry against genocide into a way to excuse it. … Locally, the explanation of antisemitism doesn’t compute. Another group of demonstrators—many of them Jewish, calling for a Gaza ceasefire—rallies downtown regularly. They weren’t attacked. Why one group and not the other?”

For Schneider, Adams’ refusal wasn’t a betrayal; it was, as he put it, “a raid on the unspeakable.” A rare moment of honesty. An acknowledgment that the firebombing on Pearl Street cannot be divorced from the firebombing of Gaza.

Yellow Scene warned of this. In the days after the firebombing, we wrote that grief would be weaponized to silence people. Since October 7th, accusations of antisemitism have become the bluntest tool to shut down criticism of Israeli policy. That national pattern is now playing out in Boulder.

None of this excuses violence. But it demands we ask: If the language of antisemitism becomes a shield for a state committing genocide, what happens to those trying to stop it? And what happens to a city that confuses condemning an attack with condemning a movement?

Adams’ refusal to sign the pledge drew swift backlash, but her posts made her reasoning clear: Boulder can’t claim to stand against hate while continuing to invest in corporations profiting from the siege on Gaza. Her critics are entitled to push back. But reducing her dissent to antisemitism sets a dangerous precedent.

That is the line Boulder is standing on now. Grief on one side. Fear on the other. And in between, a reckoning over whether this city will choose accountability or protection of power. 

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The post Boulder’s Breaking Point: Grief, Gaza, and the Language of Power appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Palestinians never seem to be able to evade the shackles of Zionism.

The unyielding attacks on Palestinians in America have left many in a vulnerable position. The exposure of an individual’s personal information online can lead to legal consequences, yet countless Zionist organizations have been able to get away with their malicious intentions under the guise of free speech.

The lingering effects of doxing have left thousands of Palestinians and their allies constantly being libeled to the detriment of their physical and public safety. As Palestinians all across the diaspora have dedicated their lives to exposing Israel’s war crimes and fighting for the liberation of their people, Zionist animus has resorted to slander.

Doxing is a well-known, insidious strategy used by many to intimidate the most vulnerable and vocal in the Palestine movement. The organization Canary Mission culminated sometime around 2014. During that summer, Gaza experienced vicious bombardment, where Israel committed a mass slaughter, killing over 2,251 Palestinians, over 500 of them children.

During this horrific period, Palestinians all over the diaspora and allies took to the streets. They used every platform they could to expose Israel’s war crimes and express their outrage at what was happening. To counteract the ugly truth, wealthy Zionist American donors decided to fund an anonymous organization, dedicating itself to creating an anti-Israel blacklist to intimidate Palestinians.

What’s been challenging is understanding who is behind this website. Adam Milstein, an Israeli American and convicted felon, is rumored to be one of the leading donors investing millions. Although he has denied these claims, his history of de-legitimizing boycott, divestment, and sanctions; attacks on free speech; and vilifying Palestinians and people of color mirror everything that the dubious website stands for.

Many pro-Palestine organizations on college campuses have been primary targets of these doxing campaigns. National Students for Justice in Palestine is constantly vilified for its organizing of events and protests connected to the Palestine movement. Columbia University and George Washington University recently suspended Students for Justice in Palestine last November due to claims of anti-Semitism. Brandeis University has become the first private university to ban SJP from its campus, making erroneous assertions perpetuated by Zionists that the organization is a danger to Jewish individuals and supports Hamas.

These claims are intended to eliminate any support for Palestine on college campuses. Universities should be a welcoming and open-minded environment where students can feel safe to share and express their ideas. Holding protests and organizing demonstrations is a substantial part of campus life. It is concerning that students’ freedom of speech on college campuses is at stake here.

Omar, an activist and organizer originally from Gaza, elaborated on Canary Mission’s intentions: “Their goal is to silence Palestinians and allies and really anyone who speaks out against Israel. They will take the most minuscule criticisms of Israel and list them as a reason why you’re a ‘bad person.'”

One example of the villainization constantly uttered by the Zionist movement was the claim these protests on college campuses were shouting genocidal slogans against Jewish people. Zionists began spreading videos wrapped up in lies, claiming that pro-Palestine protests at UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania were calling for Jewish genocide.

The footage contained muffled chants by pro-Palestine protestors where Zionists say they were chanting, “We want Jewish genocide.” When in reality, the slogan that was being chanted at these Palestine protests was, “We charge YOU with genocide.”

This dangerous accusation has put many pro-Palestine organizations and individuals at risk of threats and violence. Omar said, “I think in a lot of ways the Zionist ideology is institutionalized in America. We’re seeing a lot of university governing bodies that are really showing themselves as being very Zionist, even if they have no ties to Israel.”

Individuals associated with pro-Palestine organizations such as SJP or BDS are almost always doxed and listed on Canary Mission as a “terrorist” and a “hateful antisemite.” This rhetoric that Canary Mission and other Zionist organizations such as StopAntisemitism constantly exude is not only dangerous but flat-out cartoonish. Omar explained how doxing has made him feel: “It’s very upsetting to have your whole life be reduced to a set of tweets, not that I don’t stand by everything I said, but it’s upsetting to be reduced to this profile that is slandering you at every possible turn, calling me an anti-Semite and a terrorist sympathizer.”

Meanwhile, many Israeli protests are filled with actual calls for genocide and hate speech. We’ve seen Israeli politicians and American ones, too, calling on Israel to flatten Gaza, claiming every Gazan is not innocent, perpetuating this demonizing image of Palestinians, and encouraging the mass slaughter of Palestinian children.

Many employers who are unaware of the site’s racist intentions may blindly find it concerning to see an employee or interviewee listed on a site like Canary Mission. Omar expressed how it is essential not to let them get to you: “Losing my job is not enough of a threat for me to stop advocating for relatives who are being butchered day in and day out in Palestine.”

Silence and intimidation come with a hidden agenda. These organizations are not genuinely concerned when it comes to anti-Semitism but are more so concerned with attacking those who speak out against Israel and condemning its laundry list of war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people.

Not only has doxing given rise to endless online harassment, but Palestinians are constantly having to explain themselves amid the chains of hatred imposed by the Zionist movement.

There is nothing complex about this. We have a nuclear colonial state, funded by the U.S., armed to the teeth, oppressing the indigenous population. Palestinians in the diaspora are also faced with the insidiousness of Zionism: “They handpick these very specific tweets that they can use to kinda spin to paint me in a certain way,” Omar said.

This experience causes real-world harm. Doxing is known to leave long-term psychological effects. Being villainized on this site places someone in a state of constant fear for their reputation and physical safety. Nowadays, it is not hard for people to find someone’s address. Canary Mission’s disturbing cyberstalking tactics have put Palestinian lives at risk and have given power to Zionists to harass people with rarely any repercussions.

Omar said, “Every post they make about me, the comments are filled with deranged racist comments. It’s also hilarious that these apparently are not the racist comments that go against the guidelines of websites like X and Instagram, but apparently ‘from the river to the sea’ is a very racist comment and should be deleted, which is absolutely absurd.”

Wanting the destruction of Zionism is not wanting the destruction of the Jewish people, and to even have to say that shows how deeply rooted the demonization of Palestinians is. When there is a call for Palestinian freedom, it is met with the question of Israeli safety. The projection is loud and clear, as Zionists fear that once Palestinians are free, they will do what Israel has done to them.

Despite Zionists trying to make this a “Jews vs. Palestinians” situation, some of the most prominent voices in the Palestinian movement are Jewish voices.

This tired rhetoric that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism is a talking point Palestinians have had to push back on and explain themselves ad nauseum for decades. Omar said, “No one [doxxed on] Canary Mission is actually saying racist things. You know, you look through people’s Canary Mission profiles, and yeah, they’re angry about Israel, but like, what’s a Palestinian supposed to do? Am I supposed to be like, ‘Oh yeah, I love Israel?’ Yeah, I hate them, and the sky is blue.”

Palestinians are being killed, losing their homes, and being forcibly exiled from their land. According to these doxing organizations, it is anti-Semitic to resist or express any outrage towards that. Any human being on this planet would pick up arms and defend their land when faced with the horrors of colonialism. Are Palestinians supposed to greenlight their own genocide? Is it that much of a surprise that Palestinians want to see the downfall of the Zionist regime that has uprooted and occupied them for over 75 years?

No one gets to determine how Palestinians should act amid oppression. Furthermore, no one gets to define what Zionism is but Palestinians themselves because they are the direct victims of it.

Canary Mission masquerades itself as a site that intends to expose anti-Semites across the country, but in the same breath, slanders anti-Zionist Jews who also align themselves with the Palestinian cause. Ironically, the site claims to be exposing Jewish hatred while also doxing and attacking Jews who believe Palestinians should be free. It’s almost like this isn’t about anti-Semitism but more about silencing any criticism of Israel.

We urge professionals and employers to wholly understand the horrid truth behind these doxing campaigns that detriment the lives of thousands. Anti-Palestinian sentiment is profoundly ingrained to the point of acceptance. The genocide of Palestine directly affects Palestinians all over the world, and they have every right to express pain and anger toward the annihilation of their people.

The post Kill the Canary appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.