An Illinois state senator, a state representative and a Chicago alderman skipped a roundtable meeting on antisemitism which Brandon Johnson, the city’s mayor, convened on Monday.
On Jan. 31, Johnson broke a tie in the Chicago City Council and voted to demand a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip—a decision that the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest said “will create more division among communities in Chicago and inspire more antisemitism.”
“To me, it just feels like this was a hollow offer to try to save face with the Jewish community,” Debra Silverstein, the only Jewish member of the Chicago City Council, told the Chicago Sun-Times of the mayor’s meeting on Monday. “There are a lot of people who should have been invited to the meeting who were not.”
“We don’t want to sit at a roundtable with those people who are anti-Israel,” added the alderman, who represents Chicago’s 50th Ward.
Sara Feigenholtz, a Jewish state senator, and Bob Morgan, a Jewish state representative, and Jewish United Fund and Anti-Defamation League Midwest also did not attend.
Marty Levine, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, participated in the meeting.
