A group of Jewish children were the victims of what the Skokie Police Department has classified as a hate crime at a Skokie park near numerous synagogues on Oct. 7, according to reports from the Village of Skokie and Skokie Police Department.
The Skokie Police Department posted on its Facebook page Oct. 24 that its investigation found that a group of Jewish children between the ages of 13 and 15 were at Shawnee Park, 3730 Lee St., Skokie, earlier this month when another group of minors in the same age range showed up. The first group of children were asked if they were Jewish, and one child in the second group shot at one of the Jewish children with a “gel blaster” toy gun, which dispenses water-based gel pellets, according to police.
The children in the second group reportedly shouted antisemitic remarks at the Jewish children during the incident, which led the police department to classify the incident as a hate crime, it said.
The police department said it “acknowledges community members’ frustration and concerns regarding information shared related to its investigation,” but noted that because the juveniles were underage, it cannot publicly disclose what corrective actions are being taken related to the minor who discharged the gel blaster.
The Illinois Juvenile Court Act takes a restorative approach to cases involving minors, according to the police department’s news release.
The families involved with the incident hesitated to talk about it to avoid bringing more attention to an already delicate situation, according to Skokie Village Board Trustee and Midwestern Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Alison Pure Slovin.
At the Oct. 21 Skokie Village Board meeting, trustees and Mayor Ann Tennes publicly condemned the Shawnee Park incident, without going into the specifics of what happened.
“I asked the parents to keep it off of Facebook and everything, because all it does is give oxygen to the haters,” Pure Slovin told Pioneer Press after the meeting. “Even if there’s something going on… don’t give them that. They want that.”
The hate crime took place on Oct. 7, the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel killing nearly 1,200 people and abducting 251. The New York Times reported that as of Oct. 23, after two years of Israeli attacks on Gaza, more than 68,000 Palestinians had been killed there. The article quoted a British war casualty expert suggesting that might be an undercount.
The Skokie incident also took place on the first day of Sukkot, a Jewish holiday.
Ever since hostilities started in the Mideast region after Oct. 7, 2023, reports of antisemitic incidents have increased in the United States, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Pure Slovin said that Skokie is no exception, but that not every incident is reported to authorities out of skepticism from some who don’t believe it will make a difference.
ABC News reported Oct. 16 that a report from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center warned that anti-Muslim hate crimes have also been on the rise. It cited the case of a 6-year-old boy of Palestinian heritage, Wadee Alfayoumi, who was killed by his 71-year-old landlord in Plainfield Township, in Chicago’s southwest suburbs, while the landlord shouted anti-Muslim statements.
In a statement released from the village of Skokie, the village states that all incidents of hate and bias are documented and shared with the village’s Human Relations Commission. The commission reviews the information and provides recommendations to the village on how to address it, the statement reads.
“The Village of Skokie unequivocally condemns antisemitism, hate and bias in all forms. Skokie is a diverse, inclusive and caring community where acts of hate have no place,” the statement says.
“Our community has long been built on respect, inclusion and care for one another,” Tennes said in a prepared statement. “The Village remains committed to standing against antisemitism and all forms of bias, and to ensuring that Skokie continues to be a safe and welcoming place for everyone.”
The Skokie Park District also released a statement saying, “We do not tolerate racist remarks or acts of violence in our parks. We are prepared to work with the Village of Skokie’s Human Relations Commission and the Skokie Police Department as part of a community-wide effort to address this hateful occurrence and prevent these behaviors in the future.”
Pioneer Press attempted to contact a person who identified themselves on social media as a parent of one of the victims targeted in the attack. That person did not reply to a request for comment.
