On January 21, 2026, while communities around the world marked the solemn remembrance of the Holocaust, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance to adopt the broadly discredited IHRA definition of antisemitism into the City’s Human Rights Ordinance.

Across the U.S., this definition has been used to silence peaceful speech, punish human rights advocacy, and suppress opposition to genocide and crimes against humanity. We call on City Council to amend the definition to both protect our Jewish community members from antisemitism and to protect civil liberties for all.