June 6, 2025 • 8 mins
Shira Weiss is National Director of Run For Their Lives.
I hope you'll join me this Sunday in Boulder on the Pearl Street Mall just east of Broadway, at noon, to support the organization and people who were maniacally attacked by an illegal alien anti-Semite and apparent wannabe jihadist.
I hope you'll join me this Sunday in Boulder on the Pearl Street Mall just east of Broadway, at noon, to support the organization and people who were maniacally attacked by an illegal alien anti-Semite and apparent wannabe jihadist.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I shared with you in the last segment of the
show a note written by a gentleman named ed Victor
that was published over at the Free Press entitled I
saw my friends set on fire in Boulder. Ed Victor
has been to every or almost every one of these
Run for Run for Their Lives events for the last
(00:23):
nine months.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
And it was quite a moving piece.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Joining us now to talk about not just what happened
in Boulder, but bigger picture stuff and what folks can
do who want to support not just Run for their Lives,
but again the bigger picture here is Shira Weiss, and
Shira is National director of Run for Their Lives.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Shira, thanks for joining me here on Kiawa.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Thank you so much for having me So.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I do plan to go to the event in Boulder.
I don't know if you call it an event. Go
to the walk in Boulder this Sunday. What do you
want to tell people who maybe haven't been one before
and are thinking about it now.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Our mission and our core values have always been surrounding
the hostage situation in Israel. So Run for Their Lives
was established on October fifteenth, twenty twenty three, shortly after
the attacks and it was established as a global humanitarian
(01:30):
crisis when over two hundred and forty civilians were taken hostage,
and the civilians were of many different nationalities, ethnicities, religions,
and we came together as a group because we strongly
believed that no one person should be taken against their
(01:53):
will and have you know, their basic freedom and needs
taken away from them. And currently there are fifty six
hostages still intactivity. It's six hundred and nine days, and
we just don't believe that this should continue our I
(02:13):
know the mission is called to run for their lives,
but it's walks, it's local walks that are happening in
over two hundred and thirty groups worldwide, and it's a
way for a community to come together and just be
together in a time when everything is so divisive and
(02:34):
people just have differing opinions. What we hope is that
the people who join us are of the same opinion
that no other human beings should be treated in this manner.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
The FBI put out a release yesterday that I talked
about on the show earlier, and it's entitled recent Attacks
highlight elevated threat to Israelian Jewish communities and as I
said to listeners before you got here twenty minutes ago
or whatever, that makes me want to go more, you know,
(03:07):
I mean, I am Jewish, but even if I weren't,
it makes me.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
It makes me want to go more.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
And I'm curious how you feel, as the director of
all this multiple locations, not just here in Colorado, how
do you feel about this idea that times are much
riskier for Jews now than even just a year ago.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Well, first, I want to address the fact that not
only Jewish people in Israeli people join these walks. We
have many walks that are actually led by non Jews,
so people who agree with our mission and wanted to
create a chapter in their area and participants. Also, it's
a mix of people. We welcome people from all walks
(03:56):
of life. Of course, with the rise of high Semitism
and just you know, the general politics and issues in
the Middle East, that's obviously put us kind of as
you know, with targets on our back. But this is
the first violent attack that we've had happened to our
organization and we've been walking for almost two years. So
(04:20):
that's just goes to show you the type of people
that we have coming to join us and support us
and the manner in which we conduct ourselves. We are peaceful,
We are not protesting, we are not demonstrating, we are
not marching. We are literally just going for a walk
together as a community, you know, for people to come together.
(04:44):
I initially, when the attack happened in Boulder, we because
different groups walk at different times, we immediately ceased operations
because we needed to ensure everybody's safety. And the out
pouring that we have gotten from not only our community
and our leaders, but strangers just asking us not to
(05:07):
stop because of how important this mission is really made
us reassess and reevaluate if we should continue going. And
we made a decision to continue. And we you know,
have been in touch with a lot of organizations and
local law enforcement to help our leaders, you know, to
assess potential threats, to help with security, and to even
(05:31):
help with you know, potential protocol of what to do
if you know, something happens in terms of how you
keep your your members safe. So we've we've kind of,
you know, we were living in this bubble of not
having to deal with potential violent attacks or any sort
(05:54):
of attack on our groups that now we've have to
just reassess how we have all right, most part every
group is going out this weekend and walking.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I just have a few seconds left.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Would you, Would you say that the most common characteristic
of your groups, your group's leadership, your group's membership in
recent days, either most common or at least fairly common,
is determination. Yeah, yeah, that's what I thought. That's what
(06:29):
I thought it would be. And I mean that's how
I that's how I feel too. And again, I used
to live in Boulder. I live kind of far from
Boulder now. But folks, if you want to join me,
and it doesn't matter if you're Jewish, come on up
this Sunday to Boulder Pearl Street Pearl Street Mall, just
on the east side of Broadway at noon and we'll
(06:52):
just take a little walk together. We're not we're not
doing a marathon. We're not going for a three hour hike.
It's just a short, quiet, peaceful walk to to show
support for our friends and neighbors.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Do you want to add anything, Shira, Yeah, And.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
For any of you that are listening, if you have
family out of town you know, or friends, like I
mentioned before, two hundred and thirty groups worldwide, you can
go to our website and you can find you know, groups,
local chapters in your area and we would love.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
To have you folks.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
If you want to find the website, just go to
your favorite search engine and type in Run for Their
Lives or Shira, what's the UURL?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
It's run the number four lives dot org.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Run four lives dot org and that four is the number.
Shira Weiss's national director of Run for Their Lives. Thank
you for being here. I'm sorry that you and all
of us had to go through this. I'm I'm overjoyed
that nobody died, and you know, and in a way,
maybe maybe we come out of this even stronger. You know,
(07:58):
it's a thing I can easily imagine since nobody died.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, agreed, sheer Weie. Thanks for your time. Thank you
very much,
I shared with you in the last segment of the
show a note written by a gentleman named ed Victor
that was published over at the Free Press entitled I
saw my friends set on fire in Boulder. Ed Victor
has been to every or almost every one of these
Run for Run for Their Lives events for the last
(00:23):
nine months.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
And it was quite a moving piece.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Joining us now to talk about not just what happened
in Boulder, but bigger picture stuff and what folks can
do who want to support not just Run for their Lives,
but again the bigger picture here is Shira Weiss, and
Shira is National director of Run for Their Lives.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Shira, thanks for joining me here on Kiawa.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Thank you so much for having me So.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I do plan to go to the event in Boulder.
I don't know if you call it an event. Go
to the walk in Boulder this Sunday. What do you
want to tell people who maybe haven't been one before
and are thinking about it now.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Our mission and our core values have always been surrounding
the hostage situation in Israel. So Run for Their Lives
was established on October fifteenth, twenty twenty three, shortly after
the attacks and it was established as a global humanitarian
(01:30):
crisis when over two hundred and forty civilians were taken hostage,
and the civilians were of many different nationalities, ethnicities, religions,
and we came together as a group because we strongly
believed that no one person should be taken against their
(01:53):
will and have you know, their basic freedom and needs
taken away from them. And currently there are fifty six
hostages still intactivity. It's six hundred and nine days, and
we just don't believe that this should continue our I
(02:13):
know the mission is called to run for their lives,
but it's walks, it's local walks that are happening in
over two hundred and thirty groups worldwide, and it's a
way for a community to come together and just be
together in a time when everything is so divisive and
(02:34):
people just have differing opinions. What we hope is that
the people who join us are of the same opinion
that no other human beings should be treated in this manner.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
The FBI put out a release yesterday that I talked
about on the show earlier, and it's entitled recent Attacks
highlight elevated threat to Israelian Jewish communities and as I
said to listeners before you got here twenty minutes ago
or whatever, that makes me want to go more, you know,
(03:07):
I mean, I am Jewish, but even if I weren't,
it makes me.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
It makes me want to go more.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
And I'm curious how you feel, as the director of
all this multiple locations, not just here in Colorado, how
do you feel about this idea that times are much
riskier for Jews now than even just a year ago.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Well, first, I want to address the fact that not
only Jewish people in Israeli people join these walks. We
have many walks that are actually led by non Jews,
so people who agree with our mission and wanted to
create a chapter in their area and participants. Also, it's
a mix of people. We welcome people from all walks
(03:56):
of life. Of course, with the rise of high Semitism
and just you know, the general politics and issues in
the Middle East, that's obviously put us kind of as
you know, with targets on our back. But this is
the first violent attack that we've had happened to our
organization and we've been walking for almost two years. So
(04:20):
that's just goes to show you the type of people
that we have coming to join us and support us
and the manner in which we conduct ourselves. We are peaceful,
We are not protesting, we are not demonstrating, we are
not marching. We are literally just going for a walk
together as a community, you know, for people to come together.
(04:44):
I initially, when the attack happened in Boulder, we because
different groups walk at different times, we immediately ceased operations
because we needed to ensure everybody's safety. And the out
pouring that we have gotten from not only our community
and our leaders, but strangers just asking us not to
(05:07):
stop because of how important this mission is really made
us reassess and reevaluate if we should continue going. And
we made a decision to continue. And we you know,
have been in touch with a lot of organizations and
local law enforcement to help our leaders, you know, to
assess potential threats, to help with security, and to even
(05:31):
help with you know, potential protocol of what to do
if you know, something happens in terms of how you
keep your your members safe. So we've we've kind of,
you know, we were living in this bubble of not
having to deal with potential violent attacks or any sort
(05:54):
of attack on our groups that now we've have to
just reassess how we have all right, most part every
group is going out this weekend and walking.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I just have a few seconds left.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Would you, Would you say that the most common characteristic
of your groups, your group's leadership, your group's membership in
recent days, either most common or at least fairly common,
is determination. Yeah, yeah, that's what I thought. That's what
(06:29):
I thought it would be. And I mean that's how
I that's how I feel too. And again, I used
to live in Boulder. I live kind of far from
Boulder now. But folks, if you want to join me,
and it doesn't matter if you're Jewish, come on up
this Sunday to Boulder Pearl Street Pearl Street Mall, just
on the east side of Broadway at noon and we'll
(06:52):
just take a little walk together. We're not we're not
doing a marathon. We're not going for a three hour hike.
It's just a short, quiet, peaceful walk to to show
support for our friends and neighbors.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Do you want to add anything, Shira, Yeah, And.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
For any of you that are listening, if you have
family out of town you know, or friends, like I
mentioned before, two hundred and thirty groups worldwide, you can
go to our website and you can find you know, groups,
local chapters in your area and we would love.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
To have you folks.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
If you want to find the website, just go to
your favorite search engine and type in Run for Their
Lives or Shira, what's the UURL?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
It's run the number four lives dot org.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Run four lives dot org and that four is the number.
Shira Weiss's national director of Run for Their Lives. Thank
you for being here. I'm sorry that you and all
of us had to go through this. I'm I'm overjoyed
that nobody died, and you know, and in a way,
maybe maybe we come out of this even stronger. You know,
(07:58):
it's a thing I can easily imagine since nobody died.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, agreed, sheer Weie. Thanks for your time. Thank you
very much,
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