CHICAGO — Spirited discussion were part of Monday’s city hall hearings on the growing problem of anti-Semitic hate crimes across Chicago. Testimony continuing for more than six hours before the Chicago Commission on Human Rights. Chicago police say anti-Semitic hate crime incidents were up by 58 percent last year compared to 2023. The hearing was supposed to help find new strategies to stop the surge. But the city council's only Jewish alderman, Debra Silverstein voiced strong concerns about how Mayor Brandon Johnson has handled the issue.

Fifteen aldermen released a joint statement saying the hearings appear to have downplayed the problem by inviting only two actual victims of anti- Jewish hate to testify.

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