Rabbi: Review of video shows no antisemitic slurs were yelled at bus carrying Jewish grade school children
CHICAGO - The principal of a Jewish grade school in West Rogers Park said Friday that video and interviews do not support allegations that someone yelled antisemitic slurs and gave the Hitler salute at a bus carrying students earlier this week.
"Nobody came onto the bus, there were no antisemitic slurs," said Rabbi Nosson Muller. "Nothing of the sort, we watched the video multiple times."
What did happen, Muller said, is that a man on the street in the 2800 block of Jerome Street became upset when some of the children on the bus began yelling at him Wednesday afternoon, "like kids do at the end of the day."
"So he stood in front of the bus and he asked the driver to open the door," Muller said. "The driver should not have opened the door, that’s for sure, but he didn’t even put one step into the bus. He just threw out some profanity.
"Nothing happened, just an upset individual," Muller added.
On Thursday, the Simon Wiesenthal Center — a worldwide human rights organization — said it had been told by parents that someone got on the bus and yelled slurs and gave the Hitler salute. The parents called 311, and the center said it was told by police that a hate crime investigation was being conducted.
"When the Simon Wiesenthal Center went to press with the story and released the statement, this was verified by two parents who filed police reports based on what their sons had experienced," the center sad in a statement Friday.
"In addition, the SWC spoke to two detectives and an officer in the police department who were investigating the students’ allegations," it said. "We were told this was a hate crime. Later in the day, the school released a statement refuting what the children had reported."
The center’s initial fear was that the incident was somehow related to the anniversary of Kristallnacht on Nov. 9, 1938 when violent anti-Jewish demonstrations broke out across Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
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The Chicago Commission on Human Relations recently reported that hate crimes targeting Jews were up 75% in Chicago.
In a letter to parents, the school acknowledged "there has been an increase in antisemitism recently, and we are all concerned about this. However, this occurrence was not one of antisemitism. The spread of misinformation is simply due to irresponsible reporting."
Law enforcement sources confirmed getting a 311 call from a parent saying slurs had been yelled at the students, but the police department has so far not said what its investigation has found.
It has said only that someone stood in front of the bus, forcing it to stop, then entered and threatened to harm a 12-year-old boy. The police gave no other details, including a description of the man. No arrests have been reported.