We extend a heartfelt welcome to the many who have come to Colorado this week for the Jewish National Fund-USA conference. It begins today at the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver, where Gov. Jared Polis is expected to address the gathering.

The conference convenes amid a particularly challenging time for the Jewish community in our state, across the country and around the globe. The ancient Jewish homeland Israel – today, a beacon of democracy to the world and a pivotal U.S. ally – is still reeling from an Oct. 7 terrorist attack that only can be described as genocidal.

More than 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians and many of them children, were massacred by Hamas militants in an incursion across the Israeli boarder from neighboring Gaza territory. About 240 hostages were taken.

Compounding the tragedy, misguided demonstrators in Europe and the U.S., including in Colorado, largely have ignored Hamas’ criminal bloodletting and instead have decried Israel’s subsequent, and necessary, military operation to root out the terrorists in Gaza.

Some protesters are Palestinians by birth or descent who seem to have confused the long-debated quest for Palestinian statehood with the narrow, cynical agenda of a despicable terrorist group that claims to speak for Palestinians.

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Hamas’ gangster “leaders,” who display no evidence of a conscience or other redeeming social value, put almost as much effort into oppressing their ethnic kinsmen in Gaza, which Hamas controls, as they do terrorizing Israelis next door.

Other participants in the ad hoc anti-Israeli demonstrations include radical political opportunists who couldn’t care less about Palestinian aspirations. They’re exploiting another chance to bash the U.S., in this case, for its long-standing friendship with Israel.

All of them, of course, are entitled to their views as well as to peacefully assemble and express those views in public. But they are not entitled to infringe on the rights of others to assemble and express views of their own.

Anti-Israeli demonstrators around Colorado as elsewhere have taken to disrupting wide-ranging public functions. They have staged noisy spectacles in Colorado’s Capitol during this month’s legislative special session; they have taken over a Denver City Council meeting; they have instigated school walkouts. The incidents have hindered, even cut short, the proceedings.

So it was reassuring to read in Wednesday’s Gazette that police and other authorities are standing vigilant in the event of anticipated anti-Israeli demonstrations targeting the Jewish National Fund-USA conference. In a statement this week, the Denver Police Department said it is “well aware of the upcoming conference and is working with the organizers to ensure a safe event.”

The venerable Jewish National Fund, founded in 1901, donates funding and other resources to Israel, notably funding for planting trees and building houses and parks. The group also offers people the opportunity to tour Israel. It is an exemplary public citizen and is entitled to conduct its conference in peace.

There undoubtedly will be protesters nearby, as is their right in a free society. But they must remember they have the freedom to express their views – not to interfere with the free expression of those whom they oppose.

And if they forget, we trust that law enforcement will be standing by to remind them.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board