Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday unveiled a strategy to combat all manner of hate crimes that Jewish leaders condemned as an insensitive and inadequate response to the surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes.
Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th), the City Council’s lone Jewish member, said Johnson’s plan “fails to address the unique nature of anti-Jewish hate.”
“Instead, he’s turned it into hate in all forms,” Silverstein said.
Johnson’s plan calls for creating a “Jewish Engagement Council to serve as a direct bridge for dialogue” between residents, community leaders and the mayor’s office, and an “Interconnected Chicago Council” to address “fragmentation between communities.”
“By fostering increased civic connectedness, we are fortifying our response to hate … while developing a more united front and lasting foundation of safety and belonging for every Chicagoan,” Johnson said in news release issued Tuesday.
Silverstein called the mayor’s strategy “a watered-down version” of what the city’s Commission on Human Relations recommended and “a far weaker proposal” than needed to confront the magnitude of the problem.
Rebecca Weininger, senior regional director for the Anti-Defamation League Midwest, said Johnson has “done nothing for almost a year to build a relationship with the people who speak for a majority of the Jewish community in Chicago.”
“He is cherry-picking Jewish voices that are acceptable to him — either because they are anti-Zionist or because they are willing to go along with any crumbs that he is willing to feed them,” Weininger said.
The mayor’s office had no immediate comment on the backlash from Jewish leaders with whom his relationship has been strained ever since he cast the tiebreaking vote in favor of a nonbinding resolution demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Two months ago, Human Relations Commissioner Nancy Andrade resigned to protest what critics called the Johnson administration’s attempt to “whitewash” a long-awaited report that was supposed to focus solely on antisemitism — and how to combat it.
The report was triggered by a 58% rise in reported anti-Jewish hate crimes from 2023 to 2024. It recommended a dedicated task force to combat anti-Jewish hate, mandatory training on antisemitism for city employees, teachers and students in the Chicago Public Schools, and a dedicated unit within the Chicago Police Department specifically trained to combat hate crimes.
The strategy Johnson laid out Tuesday barely resembled the commission’s report.
“He had a Human Relations Commission that dedicated time and treasure to understanding antisemitism and how to combat it. The result was a list of recommendations that was not fluff, but actual substance and based on data that would actually address crime against his Jewish constituents,” Weininger said.
“He chose to build something else that was not based on good faith or data. I have no understanding about how it would actually work to decrease violence against Jews in Chicago.”
Andrade agreed: “A one-size-fits-all approach to addressing anti-Jewish hate does not benefit the Jewish community. The participation of all Jewish legacy organizations in this strategy should not be negotiated, their voice should be inherently included.”
Johnson’s relationship with Jewish leaders has been further strained by his refusal to fire his chief lobbyist, Kennedy Bartley, and remove 33rd Ward Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez as chair of the City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations for their social media posts viewed by Jewish leaders as antisemitic.
The mayor initially defended his appointment of the Rev. Mitchell Johnson as president of the Chicago Board of Education, only to have Johnson resign the following day after antisemitic comments were found on his social media pages.
The mayor also refused a demand by a City Council majority last year to condemn as antisemitic a piece of artwork on display at the Chicago Cultural Center titled “U.S.-Israel War Machine.” The Council majority wanted the artwork removed.
Weininger said she believes Johnson’s strained relationship with the Jewish community is either based on “abject ignorance or intentional exclusion” of those she called the “mainstream Jewish community.”