At City Hall, Jewish leaders call attention to rise in antisemitism

Leaders of Chicago’s Jewish communities condemned a sharp rise in antisemitism across the city, state and country Wednesday ahead of the new City Council’s first meeting.

Ald. Debra Silverstein, 50th, spoke alongside New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Chicago Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf at a news conference before later sharing a resolution at the council meeting to declare May as Jewish American History Month.

“Antisemitism, fueled by hatred and ignorance, is a stain on humanity’s conscience, and we must confront it head on with unwavering resolve,” Silverstein told reporters.

Antisemitic hate crimes have risen across the city from eight in 2021 to 38 in 2022, according to Chicago Police Department data. In the last year, antisemitic incidents rose 44% across the Midwest and more than doubled in Illinois, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

After many aldermen rose in support of the resolution, Mayor Brandon Johnson praised the Jewish American community’s contributions to Chicago.

“With the rise of antisemitic activity in our nation, it is more important than ever for us to unite against our common enemy, which is hate,” Johnson said.

Kraft, who founded the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and is CEO of the Kraft Group, has noticed “disturbing actions” he likened to events in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s, he said.

“I wouldn’t believe that we’ve seen neo-Nazis raising swastikas and demonstrating,” Kraft said via Zoom. “This is the United States of America, in 2023. There’s no room for hate.”

He highlighted his organization’s “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” campaign, symbolized by the square blue pins worn by many of the news conference’s speakers, and called on Americans to stand together “despite our color, creed, religion or sexual orientation.”

Modern times are among the best for Jewish people in America and around the world, said David Goldenberg, Midwest regional director for the Anti-Defamation League. But at the same time, antisemitism is on the rise, he added.

One major concern is that the hate is changing “hearts and minds,” Goldenberg said. Antisemitic attitudes are rising across the country at the fastest rate in decades, he added.

“This does need to be a wake-up call for anyone who doesn’t recognize or appreciate the threat that the Jewish community in America faces,” Goldenberg said.

Access to technology that exposes people to hate speech and hate symbols is in part fueling the rise in antisemitism, Goldenberg said. A political environment that pushes leaders to make more extreme comments, including on social media, and the ease with which people can silo themselves away from opinions that challenge their own are also contributing to the increase, he added.

Silverstein told the City Council that Jewish people helped split the atom to end World War II and create the vaccines used to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

She recalled a string of antisemitic attacks in her Far North Side ward a few years ago. Swastikas were drawn on schools and synagogues and windows were broken at Jewish businesses, said Silverstein, who added that she is the City Council’s only Jewish member. Her constituents are always on high alert, she added.

Her ward is home to Chicago’s largest orthodox Jewish community, Silverstein said earlier.

“We’re afraid. We have to make sure that we have security guards at our synagogues. It’s just been alarming to me,” she said.

When asked if she would call on Johnson to fire police officers known to be affiliated with the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, two far-right extremist groups, in an effort to make the Chicago Jewish community feel more comfortable, Silverstein did not give a clear answer. She said they could “discuss that offline,” but said “yes” shortly before the news conference ended.

The story has been updated to correct that Robert Kraft is CEO of the Kraft Group.