The Chicago Commission on Human Relations was holding a six-hour public hearing on antisemitism on Monday at City Hall.

Mayor Brandon Johnson called for the hearing specifically focused on antisemitism amid a troubling trend in Chicago. The point of the six-hour public hearing was to try to get to the bottom of why overall hate crimes are down in Chicago, but antisemitism is up.

Jews make up only 3% of the Chicago population, but made up 37% of crimes reported to Chicago police last year, according to a report from CPD. Police said antisemitic hate crimes last year in Chicago rose 58% from the year before.

The data being discussed dates from 2024, but 2025 has also been filled with incidents of anti-Jewish hate.

The incidents include a threat written on a mailbox right across the street from the KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation synagogue near University Avenue and Hyde Park Boulevard in Hyde Park earlier this summer.

Threats and hate-filled antisemitic messages were also found in stop signs, Amazon lockers, and University of Chicago BlueLight emergency phone boxes in Hyde Park over the summer. They ranged from slurs to wishing death on those who are Jewish.

There were at least seven instances of antisemitic graffiti in the Hyde Park area in less than a month.

Commission on Human Relations Chair Nancy Andrade warned people in the audience that some testimony at Monday's hearing could bring up difficult emotions. She also asked that speakers avoid talking about international relations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th), the only Jewish member of the Chicago City Council, was the first to testify.

"In my ward, we see swastikas sprayed on walls, hateful flyers on our cars, smashed windows at synagogues and schools, and just in this last year, there was a terrorist attack against a visibly Jewish man in my community," she said.

Members of the city's Jewish community detailed recent antisemitic attacks, and asked the city for additional help.

"When I attend services on a Friday night, I walk home with an armed security person, because one doesn't know where danger is lurking," said Rabbi Michel Siegel, of Anshe Emet Synagogue in Lakeview.

A former Chicago Public Schools student testified about being attacked at school because she is Jewish.

"One boy shouted 'Free Palestine' at me, and another cut a chunk of my hair. He fist-bumped his friends after assaulting me. The teacher did nothing. My CPS teacher did not keep me safe in the classroom," said the girl, now a 10th grader at Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Skokie.

Jewish students targeted at Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Jews shot while headed to synagogues, and offices spraypainted with swastikas were among the incidents Jewish leaders said are stoking a fire of antisemitism in the city. 

Eitan Bleichman, an Orthodox Jew, told the commission how he was shot while walking to a synagogue in West Ridge last year.

"I was targeted solely because I was Jewish. I was dressed in a suit and tie and kippah, no different than I am today, and shot while walking to synagogue," he said.

Those two stories shared the underlying common theme from those who spoke at Monday's hearing.

"Antisemitism is here in Chicago and it is rising," said Silverstein, who, ahead of the hearing, held a news conference, likening it to "political theater," and accusing Mayor Brandon Johnson of not taking antisemitism as seriously as needed.

She said she does not think the hearing called by the mayor goes far enough, and said some voices were being unfairly excluded.

Silverstein charged that several major Jewish organizations — including the Jewish United Fund, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, StandWithUs, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center — were not invited to be part of the hearing.

"They were not consulted when this hearing was planned. Some were not even invited to testify," Silverstein said. "That is not an oversight. That is a choice — and that choice sends a loud and clear message: the mayor does not believe the Jewish community has the right to defend our own experience with antisemitism."

The mayor's office responded, saying the Jewish United Fund and Anti-Defamation League did participate as witnesses during the hearing. The office also said that they extended invitations to other groups, who declined to participate.

Silverstein also expressed disappointment that the hearing would not be livestreamed like other hearings in the City Council Chambers. 

Silverstein was joined by several other speakers at the news conference Monday morning — including Roosevelt University senior Kylie Miller, who talked about her personal experiences with antisemitism.

"I was wearing my Jewish star necklace as I left my dorm downtown, and someone got close enough to me to see it — started shouting at me, ripped my headphones off my head, and tried to shove me," Miller said. "An anti-Israel protest was happening outside of my dorm downtown. I left my building wearing a Hillel sweatshirt with Hebrew on it. Someone from the protest started yelling 'dirty Jew' at me."

Miller said she does not feel safe as a college student.

"I am calling on the mayor and the rest of the city leadership to take antisemitism seriously, and to support robust Jewish life in all its forms," Miller said. "This harassment cannot continue, cannot be allowed to go on."

During the hearing, police said they have seen almost 40 hate crimes targeting Jews so far in 2025. Police leaders also talked about how officers undergo specific hate crime training so they know what to look for in those kinds of investigations.

The commission also heard from those feeling the effects outside the Jewish community, including Illinois state Sen. Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago), whose office was spraypainted with swastikas this summer.

"Using a known symbol of hate, such as a swastika, was meant to instill fear and to tear down immigrants, and particularly Palestinian communities," she said. "This was an act done so with malice and intention to tell us that we have no place in this city, in this state, or in this country, but there is no truth in that."

What happens with this testimony? There were calls for action by the city, from more education for police and first responders to new programs to react to outbursts of violence to keep communities safe. 

After the hearing, the Chicago Commission on Human Relations is supposed to create a report with key findings and recommendations for reducing antisemitism. The commission will release its report of suggestions to the city in two months.