(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Advocates for the Metropolitan area's Jewish Community and others say many efforts are needed to confront a recent rise in Anti-Semitic incidents.
The Anti-Defamation League reported that there were about 175 different incidents of anti-Semitism reported in Illinois last year. Officials point out many other incidents go un-reported. In recent weeks, Anti-Semitic fliers have been distributed in North Shore Communities.
State Senator Laura Fine, who’s among Jewish elected officials targeted in the fliers, said she’s grateful that others in the General Assembly joined her in speaking out.
"Although this is happening in my part of the state, my colleagues in the rest of the state were saying "we're standing with you and we're gonna make sure if something happens in my community, we speak up about it."
Alison Pure-Slovin , Midwest Regional Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said that’s a good start, but she's also calling for a Federal task force on Anti-Semitism and for communities to be more proactive about educating people on tolerance and on the Jewish people.
"There are many people who don't even know who or what a Jew is," she said. "In addition to that, May is Jewish heritage month. I have seen nothing pushed out about that."
Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton found one of the fliers on his driveway in Glenview. He is concerned that some people seem more comfortable expressing such bigoted thoughts these days.
"I won't get too political, but there has been a safe space I think for those types of attitudes within certain aspects of our political life and there are people in congress who I feel have said things that are- if not dog whistles were awfully close including things that were Anti-Semitic," Britton said.
Senator Fine joins others in saying that being more proactive through education is part of the answer-exemplified by the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie.
"It not only focuses on Holocaust education, but genocide in general and it also does a lot for police training and for educating children throughout the state of Illinois on what hate is-what bullying is, because let's face it...this is bullying."
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