Three Jewish lawmakers flip down Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s invitation to debate antisemitism
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No less than three Jewish lawmakers and a number of other Jewish organizations are declining Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s invitation for a Monday roundtable to debate antisemitism over what they describe as “disrespect and lack of concern for the Jewish neighborhood.”
In a letter despatched Friday declining the invitation, Chicago Ald. Debra Silverstein, fiftieth Ward, state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, and Rep. Bob Morgan pointed to Johnson’s tie-breaking vote in help of a decision calling for a cease-fire within the ongoing conflict in Gaza as one instance of Johnson’s “beautiful failure in management.” The letter went on to quote Johnson’s help for Chicago Public Faculty college students strolling out in help of a cease-fire, amongst different causes, as extra proof of their dissatisfaction with Johnson’s help of the Jewish neighborhood.
“True change can solely begin on the prime. Earlier than calling for a roundtable on antisemitism, a real chief ought to start by demonstrating a modicum of empathy for the Jewish neighborhood — we have now seen none of that,” the letter learn.
Representatives for the Jewish United Fund and Anti-Defamation League Midwest confirmed they had been invited to Monday’s roundtable and likewise declined to attend. No less than one progressive Jewish group that has supported requires a cease-fire, Jewish Voice for Peace, confirmed they are going to be attending Monday’s roundtable.
Ald. Debra Silverstein speaks on the Wednesday, Jan. 31 Metropolis Council assembly at which a Gaza cease-fire decision was permitted.
Silverstein and Jay Tcath, government vp of the Jewish United Fund, stated they requested a full listing of invited attendees however didn’t get a response from the mayor’s workplace.
“We don’t know who’s going to be there and who’s not. It simply appears to me like a bit little bit of a hole supply to attempt to save face with the Jewish neighborhood,” Silverstein stated in an interview with WBEZ. “His message is transparency and communication and it is drastically missing.”
A spokesman for Johnson stated the mayor’s workplace has no remark.
Targets of the roundtable included informing the mayor’s insurance policies to handle antisemitism and for the Johnson administration to share its method for participating the Jewish neighborhood, Tcath stated. However he stated his group was involved the invitation was not honest, and that the assembly would have been used to “merely examine off that he reached out and had this assembly, and that enterprise would proceed as normal.”
“Based mostly upon our experiences the final six months, there wasn’t belief that it might be a productive use of our time,” Tcath stated, “and that we would not be exploited for his personal political posturing.”
Johnson got here out in help of a cease-fire in January, condemning the actions of Hamas whereas additionally calling for the killing of tens of hundreds of Palestinians to cease.
Every week later, a divided Metropolis Council confronted hours of tense debate over a decision that known as for a everlasting ceasefire, humanitarian help, and “the fast and unconditional launch of all hostages.” The decision, sponsored by progressive council members, solely handed after Johnson solid the tie-breaking vote. Silverstein, the Metropolis Council’s lone Jewish member, voted in opposition to the decision and argued on the time it didn’t name strongly sufficient for the unconditional launch of Israeli hostages, amongst different causes.
Silverstein stated she has not spoken with the mayor since that vote.
Johnson this week renewed his name for peace as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
“The past six months of news have been devastating. But we continue to pray for the families who are experiencing violence everywhere,” Johnson said at the event, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “And whether it’s Wadea or those who are losing their lives to violence in Chicago, the families who are grieving for loved ones in Gaza and the families who are grieving for loved ones in Chicago, we grieve together.”
Last year, the City Council passed another controversial resolution, sponsored by Silverstein, nearly a week after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. That resolution condemned the attack and declared solidarity with Israel.
“I really think he needs to show us something that he really is intending to learn something,” Silverstein said, “because I’m not feeling it right now and neither is my community.”
Tessa Weinberg covers city politics and government for WBEZ.
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