Four men jumped into a school bus full of Jewish elementary students, hurled antisemitic slurs, and performed the Heil Hitler salute at the group of terrified children on Wednesday before the bus driver succeeded in forcing them off the bus.
The bus was dropping off Jewish elementary students from a local Orthodox Jewish school in Chicago, in the West Rogers Park neighborhood.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading global Jewish human rights NGO, has expressed its alarm over the antisemitic hate crime. The organization has been in close contact with the Chicago Police Department and a number of the parents of the children affected by this antisemitic encounter.
“The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging anyone with information about the antisemitic incident to contact the Chicago PD or the Midwest offices of the Simon Wiesenthal Center,” said Alison Pure Slovin, the SWC Midwest Director.
“This shocking incident took place on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom that destroyed almost all synagogues across Germany in 1938. Many members of the Jewish community have family who lived through those horrors.”
“This shocking incident took place on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom that destroyed almost all synagogues across Germany in 1938. Many members of the Jewish community have family who lived through those horrors.”
Alison Pure Slovin
“The Chicago Commission on Human Relations reported that hate crimes targeting Jews are up 75% in the city of Chicago. But for our community, it is not just statistics but the fear and anger such incidents generate,” Slovin said.
She noted that members of the City Council of Chicago recently passed a resolution reaffirming their commitment to the Jewish community in the face of growing antisemitism.
Alarming rise in American Jewish children’s complaints of antisemitism
The Israeli-American Council’s (IAC) School Watch initiative reported a rise of hundreds of percent of complaints on behalf of Jewish children on antisemitism in schools, one year after the watchdog’s founding.
School Watch was designed to “contribute to a safe school environment and reduce incidents of antisemitism, anti-Zionism, national origin discrimination and hate,” according to its mission statement.
Students, parents, or educators that have experienced antisemitism or encountered antisemitic or anti-Zionist content in schools are able to file complaints. The IAC then brings them to the attention of the school or district levels and follows them through.
“I cannot remember the last time that there were so many cases of teenagers using the word ‘Hitler’ in American public schools,” IAC’s CEO Shoham Nicolet told The Jerusalem Post from his home in California.
Nicolet shared that there has been a rise in incidents in public schools overall. Nicolet said he thinks some of them may be credited to the antisemitic statements made recently by rapper Kanye West and basketball player Kyrie Irving.
Zvika Klein contributed to this report.