City officials say they are working with police and the FBI after flyers containing “repugnant” anti-Semitic hate speech were found littered in Highland Park on Yom HaShoah, a Holocaust remembrance day.
The City of Highland Park said in a statement that members of the community, along with other communities throughout the North Shore, discovered the flyers in their neighborhoods Thursday morning.
The Highland Park Police Department is working closely with area police departments, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to “ensure continued community safety.”
The city said in their statement that they “unequivocally condemn anti-Semitism and all acts of hate, and stands in solidarity with our Jewish community.”
Thursday was Yom HaShoah, a remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust and an opportunity to honor survivors.
“Acts such as this are particularly offensive on a day that is especially meaningful to many in our community for whom the Holocaust is living, personal history. May we always honor the legacy of Holocaust victims and survivors by speaking out against anti-Semitism to create a safer future for our children,” the city said.
It is not known how many flyers were found in east Highland Park but Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said that the act was a “continuation of an ongoing effort to stoke hatred and mistrust throughout Illinois and the nation.”
“We as a City stand by our Statement Against Hate, and strongly condemn all acts of antisemitism. As Elie Wiesel famously noted in his 1986 Nobel Prize acceptance speech “Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” We will not be silent. This is hate,” Rotering said.
The FBI reported that 58% of all religiously motivated hate crimes targeted Jews in 2020 despite just 2% of Americans being Jewish.
Rotering said that “hate has no place in our country, state, or city, and will not be tolerated” and urged residents to not hesitate to report something if they see it.
“We are aware of and disgusted by the antisemitic flyers distributed throughout the northern Chicago suburbs. We are even more deeply appalled that this flyering takes place on Yom HaShoah, a day where Jews and allies commemorate the 6 million Jews killed during the Holocaust,” the Anti-Defamation League of the Midwest said in a statement.