An advertisement that the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago ran on page seven of the Chicago Tribune on Feb. 11 shared a blood libel with the paper’s 2.2 million Sunday edition readers. Appropriately, the ad was surrounded by a bright red box.
The more than 30-year-old group, which represents 70 organizations and 400,000 Muslims, commended Brandon Johnson, the Chicago mayor, and the rest of the City Council for putting “innocent human life above politics” by voting for a ceasefire.
The group alleged that Israel has “massacred” 27,840 Palestinian civilians, “including 8,000 women and 11,500 children,” and that “139 children are murdered on average every day that we are silent.”
CIOGC’s ad stated that it was “deeply disappointing” that Debra Silverstein, an alderman, sought to delay the vote for a month “in the name of preparations for Holocaust commemoration of all things.”
“We believe that the best way to honor the memory of the Holocaust is to ensure that we never sit by silently again while innocent civilians are mass murdered, whatever the warped justification offered might be,” the group added.
It further alleged that Israel is not just guilty of “mass murder” but also of maiming tens of thousands. To prove its point, the group cited the far-left group B’Tselem and polling suggesting Democrats support a ceasefire.
Among the signatories of the ad are the Chicago Teachers Union, Jewish Voice for Peace and Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR Chicago.
One of the contemporary examples of antisemitism, which the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance cites in its working definition of Jew-hatred, is “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
More than 40 countries, including the United States, have adopted the IHRA working definition. The Illinois cities Champaign and Rockford and villages Forest Park and Lincolnwood have also adopted it.
Mayor Johnson cast the tie-breaking vote to pass a biased cease fire resolution. The 23-23 vote is proof of how divisive this resolution was and how divided Chicago has become. I am disappointed that the Mayor widened the gulf instead of unifying us. https://t.co/wt0ruhmBSb
— Alderman Debra Silverstein (@50thWardChicago) February 1, 2024
