Gov. J.B. Pritzker Thursday criticized a Gaza cease-fire resolution passed this week by Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago aldermen for failing to hold Hamas responsible for violence it has committed.
Talking to reporters after an event at the South Shore Cultural Center to announce collaboration on anti-violence initiatives, Pritzker said the resolution — which passed the council 23-22 Wednesday with Johnson casting the tiebreaking vote — should have taken into account atrocities committed by Hamas fighters who killed about 1,200 Israelis and took around 240 hostages during an Oct. 7 attack.
“I was disappointed that no consideration was given to the women who were raped by Hamas fighters who crossed over into Israel, kidnapped people, that the deaths that were caused by those terrorists were not acknowledged,” Pritzker said.
Hamas has denied committing sexual violence during the attack, and the United Nations is investigating the allegations.
“And honestly, I don’t think the City Council — if they’re going to talk about the challenge of war in the Middle East, you’ve got to make sure you include all of the perspectives. They did not do that,” said Pritzker, who is Jewish.
Some opponents of the vote on the cease-fire resolution have expressed concern the stance both the council and Johnson took on the war in Gaza could undermine America’s position on the situation or send the wrong message to President Joe Biden’s administration, especially with the Democratic National Convention set to take place in Chicago in August.
Pritzker dismissed those worries.
“It’s a non-binding resolution that passed just barely. It was 50-50 in the City Council,” he said. “It doesn’t really send much of a message, in my opinion, to the White House.”
Appearing before Pritzker spoke at the same anti-violence event Thursday, Johnson defended the council action on the cease-fire resolution against the criticism leveled by some that he and aldermen should be tackling Chicago’s many problems rather than spending a substantial amount of time fighting over a symbolic call for the fighting to stop in Gaza.
“We can do both, we have done both,” Johnson said. “We have offered up our voices to this international crisis, and we continue to make sure the critical services that the people of Chicago deserve — that they still have those services. We’re committed to our work to address the unhoused. Everybody’s still committed to our work of bringing shootings down. It’s being done, and bringing homicides down is being done.”
Johnson also pointed out the council voted in October to pass a resolution pushed by Ald. Debra Silverstein, 50th, affirming Israel’s “right and the obligation to protect its citizens against terrorism and attack by hostile foreign powers” as the country continued its bombardments of the Gaza Strip following the assault by Hamas fighters.
“And we are still making sure that our city, as a global city, that we lend our voices in matters, whether it was calling out the hideous attack against Israeli people, or whether it was calling for a ceasefire and calling for the release of the hostages,” he said.
The council battle over the Gaza resolution went on for weeks, with supporters and opponents of the cease-fire language working to convince their colleagues how to vote. In the end, the body deadlocked at 23 for and against, and Johnson cast the deciding vote to give it a majority.
The passage makes Chicago the largest American city to call for a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.
The remarks from Pritzker and Johnson came after they joined other officials to announce a collaborative effort to expand anti-violence efforts in Chicago meant to help at-risk youth. Officials from BMO Harris said Thursday that philanthropic groups in the city have raised $66 million to support the expansion.
