Some commuters arriving downtown Monday morning at Ogilvie Transportation Center were met with protesters calling for an end to the Israeli government’s bombing of Gaza.
More than 1,000 Jewish peace activists gathered outside the Israeli consulate located in the Ogilvie building to deliver an urgent call for a cease-fire in Gaza, where more than 11,000 Palestinians — including thousands of children — have been killed since Oct. 7.
The crisis in Gaza didn’t start Oct. 7, but it intensified that day when Israel was attacked by Hamas — which the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization — kidnapping about 240 people and killing 1,200 others.
“We’re shutting down the consulate because business as usual can’t continue when Israel is committing a genocidal assault on Gaza in our name,” said Simone Pass Tucker, a member of the IfNotNow movement.
On Monday, alongside IfNotNow, organizers from Jewish Voice for Peace and Never Again Action made speeches, sang songs and prayed.
The mass action took over the escalators that go up to where the Israeli consulate offices are located and protesters spread out holding a large white sheet with “Jews say ceasefire now” written across it.
Most commuters kept walking by, while some stopped to watch the demonstration. A spokesperson for Metra said that trains continued to run normally, but commuters weren’t able to use the main doors at 500 W. Madison St. to leave the station.
Jodi Melamed, a Jewish Voice for peace member from Milwaukee, said she hopes the message is clear that Joe Biden’s administration must stop its “insane complicity.”
“We’re here in anger and rage as Jews and as American citizens,” she said. “We really feel that fighting for Palestinian life is the same thing as fighting anti-Semitism. It’s the same thing as fighting Islamophobia. These are all part of the same fight. Our history makes us stand up for every life. It doesn’t condone genocide.”
Michael Wolfe, chapter organizer for Jewish Voice for Peace, said he too has been trying to dispel the argument that “pro-Palestine equals antisemitism.”
“It’s incredibly dangerous when the Israeli government does what it does, and says that they’re doing it in the name of the Jewish people. It just creates so much confusion that actually makes it harder for people like me to have a real conversation about what antisemitism really is,” Wolfe said.
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Wolfe’s aunt and cousins live in Israel, and he noted how they’re able to move freely across the country, while Palestinians living in Gaza or the West Bank cannot.
“The textbook definition of apartheid is to have two different sets of rights for people. Palestinians don’t deserve this,” he said. “I’m continually humbled by the generosity that the Palestinians extend. … I have a friend who lost more than 34 members of her family (in the attacks on Gaza), and she’s like, ‘Is your family OK?’ This is why we’re doing this.”
According to Jewish Voice for Peace, 100 people were arrested Monday for blocking the entrance to the Israeli consulate. The Chicago Police Department was not immediately available to confirm those arrests.
“Today’s action was the largest demonstration of Midwest Jews in solidarity with Palestinians in history,” Wolfe said.
He said it’s important to keep the momentum going. “People are resigning from the State Department; congressional staff are telling us privately that it’s working,” he said. “I do have hope.”