Chicago has become the largest U.S. city to pass a resolution demanding a cease-fire in Gaza, prompting critics to ask: How about a cease-fire in the Windy City?
Chicago led the nation once again in 2023 with 2,450 shootings and 617 homicides, an irony not lost on Israel supporters after the city council voted 24-23 on Wednesday to support a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, with Mayor Brandon Johnson casting the tie-breaking vote.
“Instead of voting yesterday for a cease-fire in Gaza, and this is not cliche, they should have voted for a cease-fire on the streets of Chicago,” said Amy Jacobson, co-host of the Morning Answer on 560-AM in Chicago.
The Illinois Republican Party said that Democrats “would rather engage in posturing theatrics than take action to protect our citizens.”
“Today’s vote is not only a slap in the face to the hostages held at the hands of terrorists abroad, but sends a clear message that the City Council and Chicago Democrats would rather do anything except their jobs,” the party wrote in a statement.
Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. wrote on X: “Maybe Chicago city council and mayor think they’ll have better results in Gaza than calling for a ceasefire on the violent streets of Chicago. Both will be ignored however. These people are dopes.”
Quipped the Babylon Bee, the Christian conservative satire site: “Gaza Votes for Ceasefire in Chicago.”
“They can’t even get a cease-fire in their own city, but Chicago leaders have time to embrace their inner antisemitism,” said Seattle conservative radio host Jason Rantz.
Okay, correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this accomplish *checks notes* nothing?
— Zeek Arkham (@ZeekArkham) February 1, 2024
I mean… is there something I don’t understand? Did Palestine specifically ask them for their opinion on this?
How about calling for a ceasefire in Chicago? Aren’t their streets running with… https://t.co/JOhqxWm8Pk
The glass-houses disconnect in Chicago was particularly glaring, but the city is hardly alone in its pro-cease-fire sentiments.
At least 48 major U.S. cities have approved symbolic cease-fire resolutions since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israeli civilians, including left-wing strongholds like Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle and St. Louis, according to a Reuters analysis.
Another analysis estimated that 20 municipalities have passed resolutions condemning Hamas, including Jacksonville, Florida, where Republicans hold a majority on the city council.
Chicago’s 50-member city council is officially non-partisan, but nearly every member is a Democrat, including resolution co-sponsor Alderman Daniel La Spata as well as the council’s only Jewish alderwoman, Debra Silverstein, who urged a “no” vote.
After Ms. Silverstein was interrupted twice by pro-Palestinian hecklers, Mr. Johnson cleared the room. From the lobby, the resolution’s supporters chanted “cease-fire now” and “Silverstein, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The resolution, which calls for “a permanent ceasefire … humanitarian assistance including medicine, food, and water [and] the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” has no impact on U.S. foreign policy.
Supporters insisted that its importance goes beyond the symbolic.
“We are a city council, but we also know that what we say here in Chicago matters,” resolution co-sponsor Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, part of the Chicago Democratic Socialist Caucus with Mr. La Spata, told reporters afterward.
Cheering the resolution’s passage was the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, which said the vote “sends a resounding message to political leaders across this nation that respect for innocent human life is a guiding moral principle for civilized societies.”
The pro-Israel group StandWithUs countered that such resolutions only strengthen the hand of Hamas, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization, which killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 in the attack.
“Hamas has made clear that it plans on continued violence against Israeli citizens and has violated every cease-fire to date,” said Yossi Held, StandWithUs Midwest regional executive director. “The disillusionment surrounding this cease-fire resolution allows Hamas, a global terrorist organization, time to attempt to re-arm and repeat the horror and bloodshed that took place on October 7, 2023.”
The Jewish United Fund and Anti-Defamation League Midwest said that since the resolution was introduced, antisemitic incidents have increased, including harassment, vandalism and “hateful propaganda.”
“Protesters have disrupted City Council meetings, put travelers at risk by shutting down highways, harassed the children of Holocaust survivors, and just yesterday covered City Hall in disgraceful and offensive graffiti,” the statement read. “Protest after protest in Chicago has celebrated violence against Jews and crossed the line from legitimate criticism of a government to unfiltered hatred of Jews.”
Chicago recorded the most homicides in 2023 in terms of absolute numbers, and trailed only Philadelphia in the per-capita murder rate among cities with populations of more than 1.5 million, according to data compiled by Wirepoints.
The Chicago homicide figure represented a 13% decrease from 2022. Most other major cities also saw their homicide figures decline, with the notable exception of Memphis, where the murder rate jumped by 38%.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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