Anti-Semitic Flyers Targeting Jewish Elected Officials in Illinois

March 9, 2022

At a gathering of the General Assembly in Springfield, Illinois Alison Pure-Slovin, Simon Wiesenthal Center Midwest Director, (pictured speaking at podium) condemned the latest anti-Semitic flyers targeting Jewish elected officials in Illinois. 

“We need to take bigots at their word and ensure our elected officials are safe and to investigate the sources of these serial attacks,” said Pure-Slovin. “The Simon Wiesenthal Center calls for a special Illinois task force on anti-Semitism and reiterates its call to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray to establish a special FBI National Taskforce on anti-Semitism to help us beat back this scourge of hate."

"Little did we know then, that in addition to desecrations of synagogues, vandalism, and violent attacks against Jews in Chicago, we would be standing here today condemning hate-mongering flyers targeting Illinois elected officials including Governor J.B. Pritzker, US Representative Jan Schakowsky, US Representative Brad Schneider, Illinois State Senator Laura Fine, and law enforcement agents, each a proud Jew,” added Pure-Slovin.

Last week, Pure-Slovin and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s (SWC) Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action, attended meetings in Chicago with Jewish targets of hate crimes, the Chicago PD, Illinois elected officials, hate crimes and human rights experts, along with top FBI officials.

 

The week prior Cooper held similar meetings in New York. Today, the NYPD just announced a 400% increase in anti-Semitic attacks in New York City over last year.

 

In recent months, there has been a spate of anti-Semitic hate flyers distributed in communities across the US and their messages populate social media 24/7.

 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center endorses calls for a special Illinois Taskforce on anti-Semitism and reiterates its call to FBI Director Wray to establish a Special FBI National Taskforce on Anti-Semitism to help us beat back the scourge of hate.

 

Wiesenthal Center officials will be returning to Chicago in two weeks to share the SWC’s 2022 Digital Terrorism and Hate Report that exposes how social media platforms are manipulated by anti-Semites and racists to spread their hateful and violent agendas and to recruit young people to their toxic causes.

For further information contact the Center’s Communications department at pressinquiries@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).