The Chicago Teachers Union promoted and sponsored a protest in downtown Chicago on March 7 titled “Hands Off Iran and Lebanon,” joining a broad list of activist organizations.
The event, held at Water Tower Park on Michigan Avenue, was organized by groups including the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Palestinian Youth Movement, BDS Chicago, CAIR-Chicago and the Illinois Green Party, among others. Promotional material for the rally listed the Chicago Teachers Union among the sponsors.
One photo from the demonstration showed a protest sign referencing the song “Boom Boom Tel Aviv,” which celebrates Iranian missiles falling on Israeli civilians.
Raymond Lopez, a Democratic alderman for Chicago’s 15th Ward, said the Chicago Police Department and Department of Transportation should not have authorized permits for such “illegal hate-fueled demonstrations.”
“This is exactly the antisemitic hate now outlawed in the Human Rights Ordinance,” Lopez said. “Even if the mayor doesn’t, you are required to enforce the law.”
Josh Weiner, chief strategy officer at the North American Values Institute, who leads its operations in the Chicago area, told JNS: “It is alarming how focused CTU is on activism that has nothing to do with the terrible performance of students in Chicago schools, especially when they are associating with people and groups who are actively calling for the erasure of Israel, and in this case, the bombing of Tel Aviv.”
He noted that “the company they are keeping says about their priorities, which clearly has little to do with the American students and teachers in Chicago classrooms.”
According to a September report from the Defense of Freedom Institute, titled “Breaking Solidarity: How Antisemitic Activists Turned Teacher Unions Against Israel,” Chicago Teachers Union activist Debby Pope once wrote on social media, “Zionists are not welcome in Chicago.”
She remains the union’s “class-size coordinator and grievance correspondent,” and is a member of the Chicago Board of Education.
