Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson came under fire from regional Jewish leaders after he used a keffiyeh, or a conventional Palestinian headscarf, to a public occasion today.
The Chicago chapter of the Council on American– Islamic Relations published a photo of Johnson with its executive director, Ahmed Rehabilitation, at an occasion to mark Arab Heritage Month. In it, Johnson, who was chosen in 2023, is using a black-and-white keffiyeh.
Chicago– “Ruin Israel” and “Make U.S.A. Jew Free” were scrawled throughout an indication at Argyle & Clark. On The Other Hand, Mayor Brandon Johnson presented with CAIR, happily using a keffiyeh– a sign appropriated to promote violence versus the Jewish individuals. Troubling, @ChicagosMayor. pic.twitter.com/ztAchgnCSf
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) April 24, 2025
” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (properly) honored Arab Heritage Month today. Arab Heritage ought to be honored and commemorated,” Rabbi Ari Hart of Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob Synagogue composed on Facebook. “However would it not be possible [to] honor Arab Heritage without using the sign that countless Jews around the globe saw used to commemorate the murder, rape and kidnapping of October 7th?”
Hart was voicing issues about keffiyehs that have actually accumulated over the in 2015 and a half as the keffiyeh has actually ended up being carefully connected with anti-Israel demonstrations that followed Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. While the keffiyeh has a long history and is ruled out a hate sign even by staunchly pro-Israel guard dog groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, the demonstrations have actually triggered numerous Jews to grow cautious and even feel threatened when seeing it in public locations.
Johnson deals with pushback from Jewish groups
” We comprehend that Mayor Johnson might not have actually meant to trigger damage, however at a time of historical antisemitic risk levels, consisting of in Chicago, signs matter. Their public usage, particularly by chosen authorities, brings weight and significance,” Lisa Katz, primary federal government affairs officer of the Battle Antisemitism Motion, a pro-Israel group, stated in a declaration.
The Chicago Jewish Alliance, released in early 2024 after Johnson cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of a City board resolution requiring a ceasefire in the Gaza war, condemned the mayor’s clothing at the Arab Heritage Month occasion.
” For the mayor of Chicago to stand there– masked in a sign now associated with Jewish bloodshed, flanked by a company that validates it– is more than tone-deaf. It’s a betrayal,” the group stated in a Facebook post. “It informs Jewish Chicagoans: your discomfort does not matter. Your dead do not count. Your security is flexible.”
CAIR-Chicago pressed back versus the group’s characterization in its own post. “Decreasing a whole individuals’s heritage to terrorism is not advocacy– it’s dehumanization,” the group stated.
” By their reasoning, should the kippah be cancelled since Israeli soldiers use it? Obviously not. However, that is their argument.”
Johnson, who was formerly a progressive activist in Chicago’s instructors union, is traditionally out of favor, with an approval ranking of well under 20%. Amongst his numerous critics are numerous in the city’s Jewish neighborhoods who have actually felt betrayed by his public criticism of Israel– he called its conduct in Gaza “genocidal” in 2015– and worried that he is improperly worried about Jewish security.
Last October, he drew criticism for condemning the shooting of an Orthodox Jewish male however disregarding to discuss the victim’s Jewish identity. The shooter, who district attorneys exposed had actually mapped Jewish websites in Chicago, was charged with a hate criminal offense and terrorism before passing away in prison.
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