AJC Chicago

🚨✍️IT’S TIME TO TAKE ACTION! BDS supporters from across Illinois and the nation are mobilizing and submitting witness slips in favor of this bill – we need your help to counter their efforts.

Witness slips are a critical tool to demonstrate public support or opposition to state legislative initiatives, and strength in numbers is essential to making the position of our community clear to state legislators.

Click the link below and use the following instructions to have your voice heard:
https://ilga.gov/House/hearings/details/3135/22887/createwitnessslip

SUBMIT A WITNESS SLIP
Step 1: Complete the “Identification” section. For “Firm/Business/Agency” put “NA” unless you are representing an organization.

Step 2: Fill out the “Representation” section by entering “Self”

Step 3: Fill out the “Position” section.

1. Click the white box that says “Add Subject Matter” and then select “HB 2723”

2. Click the white box that says “Add Position” and then select “Opponent” (Double check to make sure you selected the correct option).

3. Click the blue “Add Position” button

Step 4: Fill out the “Testimony” section by clicking only “Record of Appearance Only”

Step 5: Select box next to “I Agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement”

Step 6: Select “I’m not a robot” and then click “Submit Witness Slip”

That’s it...you’ve registered your opposition to this anti-Israel bill!

Any effort to fight antisemitism is doomed to fail if we take a one-size-fits-all approach and lump antisemitism in with other forms of hate.

At a time when antisemitism has reached record levels in this country and Jews are the target of most religion-based hate crimes, we need specific solutions to address the concerns and fears of the Jewish community. That includes a whole-of-society approach to tackle antisemitism, which includes law enforcement, the education system, the business community and local government.

After all, the hate that antisemitism breeds starts with Jews but inevitably spreads to other faiths and minorities.

Mayor Brandon Johnson (@ChicagosMayor) on X

AJC Chicago joined fellow Jewish community leaders on March 4 at a press conference calling on City of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to implement recommendations from the Chicago Commission on Human Relations to address rising antisemitic hate crimes in Chicago.

Alongside partners including Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago and Anti-Defamation League, Chicago alderpersons, and local rabbis, AJC Chicago Regional Director Sarah van Loon highlighted the Commission’s July 2025 Hate Crimes Report, which found a 58% increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes, even as incidents targeting most other groups declined.

Following public hearings that included testimony from Jewish Chicagoans, the Commission issued recommendations to strengthen protections for the Jewish community. At the press conference, van Loon urged the Mayor to act without further delay to ensure the safety and security of Jewish Chicagoans.

Last week, AJC Chicago Marshall Society members gathered for our quarterly Cocktails & Conversation program featuring Joel Braunold, Managing Director of The Center Project, with an update on Israel, Gaza, and the region through the lens of President Trump's 20-Point Plan.

If you'd like to take part in these exclusive conversations, please email [email protected] to get connected!

AJC Chicago was honored to attend the celebration of the Statehood Day of the Republic of Serbia! We are grateful to have such a strong relationship with the General Consulate of Republic of Serbia in Chicago and Consul General Marko Nikolić.

Members of AJC Chicago’s Diplomatic Outreach Committee (DOC) met with Regina Jurkowska, Consul General of Poland, and Vice Consul Oskar Gradziel to discuss Poland’s relationship with Israel and the importance of countering rising global antisemitism. Thank you Polish Consulate in Chicago for taking the time to meet with us!

AJC Chicago leadership met with Tatjana Telic, Consul General of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Vice-Consul Darja Bugarin. Our discussion topics included Bosnia and Herzegovina's relationship with Israel and the need to counter rising global antisemitism.

Last night, more than 40 Latino and Jewish community leaders came together at Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center Experience360 for a private tour and intimate conversations about where our communities intersect, where we differ, and how we can show up as better allies for one another in a complicated world.

Grateful to be joined by Israel Consul General Elad Strohmayer, Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Ald. Tabares, Ald. Silverstein, and so many thoughtful leaders committed to dialogue, partnership, and solidarity.

AJC Chicago was honored to meet with the Consul General of the Czech Republic, Jakub Uteseny. Topics of our conversation included the Czech Republic's relationship with Israel and the importance of countering antisemitism.