Mayor Brandon Johnson unveiled a strategy aimed at combating hate crimes, but Jewish leaders sharply criticized it as insensitive and inadequate after a surge in anti-Jewish incidents. They argued the mayor’s approach dilutes recommendations made by the City’s
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s announcement landed like a slap in the middle of a tense relationship.
On Tuesday, Johnson unveiled a strategy meant to combat all manner of hate crimes. Jewish leaders condemned the plan as insensitive and inadequate in response to the surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes.
Ald. Debra Silverstein, the City Council’s lone Jewish member, said Johnson’s proposal “fails to address the unique nature of anti-Jewish hate.” In her view, Johnson took something specific and generalized it. “Instead, he’s turned it into hate in all forms,” Silverstein said.
Johnson’s plan. laid out in a press release issued Tuesday. calls for creating a “Jewish Engagement Council” designed as a direct bridge for dialogue between residents. community leaders and the mayor’s office. It also includes an “Interconnected Chicago Council” intended to address what the mayor described as “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.
But Silverstein and other Jewish leaders said those ideas did not match what the city’s own experts had recommended.
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.” She added that the mayor’s outreach. as she sees it. is not just insufficient—it is selective. “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 did not offer immediate comment on the backlash from Jewish leaders, with whom the mayor’s relationship has been strained since he cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of a nonbinding resolution demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The criticism also comes in the shadow of an earlier break inside city leadership. 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.
In Johnson’s Tuesday strategy, Weininger said, those recommendations were effectively set aside. “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. ” she said.
Weininger argued that the mayor chose a different path. “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 echoed the point that the city cannot treat antisemitism as if it were interchangeable with other forms of hate. “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.”.
Tensions between Johnson and Jewish leaders have also been sharpened by political and personnel decisions.
Jewish leaders have criticized the mayor’s refusal to fire his chief lobbyist Kennedy Bartley and remove Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd) as chair of the City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations, citing social media posts viewed by Jewish leaders as antisemitic.
The strained relationship has also extended into other controversies. Johnson initially defended his appointment of Rev. Mitchell Johnson as president of the Chicago Board of Education, only for Rev. Mitchell Johnson to resign the following day after antisemitic comments were found on his social media pages. Johnson 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 Johnson’s fractured relationship with the community is rooted in how she believes he is choosing who gets to be heard. She said she believes the strained relationship is either based on “abject ignorance or intentional exclusion” of what she called the “mainstream Jewish community.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson hate crimes anti-Jewish hate antisemitism City Council Debra Silverstein Anti-Defamation League Nancy Andrade Human Relations Commission Chicago Police Department Chicago Public Schools