Block Club Chicago: Did A Chicago Alderman Just Joke About Deadly Lebanon Attacks In Tweet?
“That’s just extremely irresponsible behavior. He’s inviting hate to both the Jewish community and the Muslim community.””
Ald. Brendan Reilly tweeted an image of a pager with the words “Mazol Tov” Wednesday. Several were killed and thousands hurt by exploding pagers in Lebanon and Syria in attacks widely considered to have been carried out by Israel, the AP reported.
From left: Ald. Brendan Reilly on his phone during a City Council meeting on Sept. 18, 2024. During the meeting, Reilly posted a tweet to X which critics believe is a joke about deadly pager attacks in Lebanon. Right: A screenshot of a post from Ald. Brendan Reily’s X account during Wednesday’s City Council meeting. It was deleted about two hours later. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago, X
by Molly DeVore and Melody Mercado
DOWNTOWN — Muslim and Jewish leaders criticized Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) Wednesday after the alderman posted a photo of a pager that read “Mazol Tov” in the wake of deadly attacks caused by exploding pagers targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria.
Reilly posted the photo to his official X account during Wednesday’s City Council meeting, shortly before 2 p.m. By 3:16 p.m., the post had been deleted.
Reilly initially posted the photo as a reply to attorney Marina Medvin’s post, which showed a pager with “Shalom” written on it at 1:52 p.m. He then posted the “Mazol Tov” pager photo to his page one minute later, misspelling the Hebrew phrase for congratulations or wishing good luck.
Earlier, just after 12:30 p.m., Reilly replied to a tweet from right-wing commentator Cam Higby that read “Do you agree with Israel’s pager attack?” Reilly commented, “Hezbollah scum f-d around & found out. Karma’s a b*tch.”
At least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, were killed Tuesday by pagers that exploded almost simultaneously, according to numerous reports.
Thousands of people were injured by the attack, widely believed to have been coordinated by the Israeli government to target Hezbollah members carrying the pagers, the Associated Press has reported. A second wave of attacks occurred Wednesday, killing at least 14 people, according to the AP.
Maggie Slavin, a spokesperson with the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the post “abhorrent.”
The organization has found that when elected officials use violent rhetoric to discuss issues abroad, hate crimes back home “skyrocket,” Slavin said.
“That’s just extremely irresponsible behavior,” Slavin said. “He’s inviting hate to both the Jewish community and the Muslim community.”
Arielle Rebekah, a spokesperson for the Chicago arm of Jewish Voice for Peace, called Reilly’s use of the Hebrew word for celebration “harmful.”
“I also think it perpetuates a dangerous conflation between Judaism, the Hebrew language and the heinous acts of the Israeli state,” Rebekah said.
Reilly did not immediately respond to Block Club’s request for comment.
“Given some are offended by the tweet, I am removing it,” Reilly told WBEZ Chicago.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) also derided the tweet, WBEZ reported.
“Terrorism is always wrong, and I expect a swift apology if he has a shred of morality in his body,” Sigcho-Lopez said.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a post-council press conference he did not read the now-deleted tweet but said Reilly should apologize. Pressed if Reilly should face repercussions like a censure, the mayor said it wasn’t in his authority.
“I don’t have the authority to censure people,” Johnson said. “If City Council members decide to take that up for a vote, we obviously have seen that happen before… but if that is what is being reported, he should apologize for it sounds quite horrific and beyond offensive.”
Slavin said it is important to remember many people injured and killed in the recent attacks were civilians.
“Is he, like, cheering on violence against civilians?” Slavin said. “We’re talking about regular people who were just trying to read the newspaper.”