Jewish festival organizers boost security amid recent anti-Semitic attacks
MORTON GROVE, Ill. (WGN) – The largest Jewish cultural event in the area is set for this weekend, right on the heels of two violent anti-Semitic attacks.
On Sunday, a forest preserve in Morton Grove will be hosting a Jewish festival, featuring three music stages, 50 artists' booths and numerous food options.
'It is in that regard the longest-running Jewish festival in America and the largest Jewish cultural event in the area,' Michael Lorge, founder and chair of the Greater Chicago Jewish Festival, said. 'The philosophy is to share Jewish culture, food, dance music with everyone.'
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The Greater Chicago Jewish Festival started in 1980 and runs every two years. It will be held at St. Paul Woods in Morton Grove this Sunday, June 8.
'It draws from around the area, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan people come,' Steve Franklin, a member of the Greater Chicago Jewish Festival Steering Committee, said. 'We've had as many as 15,000 people or more come to the event.'
This year's event comes on the heels of two violent anti-Semitic attacks.
Two staff members of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. were shot and killed outside a D.C. museum last month.
On Sunday, June 1, a man threw Molotov cocktails into a crowd of demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, taking part in a walk bringing attention to Israelis still being held hostage in Gaza. A total of 12 people were injured.
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'It's terrible. People feel angry. At the same time, people feel resolved. We do not back down on this,' Lorge said.
With incidents like these taking place throughout the country, there is concern people might not feel safe taking part in Jewish events.
'We are not going to be afraid. We are not going to cancel the festival or say to people, 'Be careful. Don't come.' We're saying come. It's a time of solidarity. This is a time to share our culture in the most positive way,' Lorge said.
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Festival organizers said this year they are working with seven different law enforcement agencies and their own security staff to keep the event safe.
'We have the festival itself, our own officers, Chicago off-duty police with a bomb sniffing dog, all kinds of resources that are part of our planning,' Lorge said. 'The grounds will be fenced. There will only be one entrance in and out. We are telling people there will be metal detectors. We want people to get inside and feel comfortable and celebrate, because we're sharing this event, not just with the Jewish community, but the whole community.'
Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines
Organizers told WGN-TV no vendors or musical acts have canceled.
The event will be held Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Los Angeles Times
28 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Israel hits an Iranian nuclear research facility and says it's preparing for a long war
TEL AVIV — Israel's military said Saturday it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in targeted attacks, while emphasizing it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war. Smoke rose from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where Isfahan province's deputy governor for security affairs, Akbar Salehi, confirmed the Israeli strikes damaged the facility but said they caused no casualties. The target was two centrifuge production sites, according to an Israeli military official speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters. It was the second attack on Isfahan, which was hit in the first 24 hours of the war as part of Israel's goal to destroy Iran's nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, confirmed the latest attack. Iran launched a new wave of drones and missiles at Israel but there were no immediate reports of significant damage. A Magen David Adom rescue service official said a drone hit a two-story building in northern Israel, with no casualties. The official called it a 'small barrage' that was largely intercepted by Israel's defenses. The official estimated that Israel's military has taken out more than half of Iran's launchers. 'We're making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,' he said. 'Having said all that, I want to say the Iranian regime obviously still has capabilities.' The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, later said that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told the army to be prepared for a 'prolonged campaign.' President Trump is weighing active U.S. military involvement in the war. On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, 'I think that it would be very, very dangerous for everyone.' He spoke on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey. Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but America's 'bunker-buster' bombs. Trump said he would put off his decision on direct military involvement for up to two weeks. The war erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran's nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 722 people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,500 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. One Tehran resident, Nasrin, writhed in her hospital bed as she described how a blast threw her against a wall in her apartment. 'I've had five surgeries. I think I have nothing right here that is intact,' she said Saturday. Another resident, Shahram Nourmohammadi, said he had been making deliveries when 'something blew up right in front of me' at an intersection. Iran has retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Israel's multi-tiered air defenses have shot down most of them, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only nonnuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program, but has never acknowledged it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel's military operation will continue 'for as long as it takes' to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missile arsenal. Talks in Geneva on Friday failed to produce a breakthrough. European officials expressed hope for future discussions. Iran's foreign minister said he was open to further dialogue while emphasizing that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the U.S. while Israel continues to attack. 'Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again, and once aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed,' he told reporters. No date was set for a new round of talks. For many Iranians, updates remained difficult. Internet-access advocacy group said Saturday that limited internet access had again 'collapsed.' A nationwide internet shutdown has been in place for several days. Israel's opening attack killed three of Iran's top military leaders: Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, who oversaw the armed forces; Gen. Hossein Salami, who led the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; and the head of the Revolutionary Guard's ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Israel's defense minister said Saturday the military has killed a Revolutionary Guard commander who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing 20-month war in the Gaza Strip. Iranian officials did not immediately confirm Saeed Izadi's death, but the Qom governor's office said there had been an attack on a four-story apartment building and local media reported two people had been killed. Israel also said it killed the commander of the Quds Force's weapons transfer unit, who it said was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Behnam Shahriyari was killed while traveling in western Iran, the military said. Iranian leaders say IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi's statements about the status of Iran's nuclear program have prompted Israel's attack. On Saturday, a senior advisor for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, Ali Larijani, said in a social media post, without elaboration, that Iran would make Grossi 'pay' once the war is over. Grossi warned Friday at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. 'In case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity,' Grossi said, adding: 'This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.' Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country's Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital. Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% and restricting access to its nuclear facilities. Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium — at lower levels — in recent talks over its nuclear program. But Trump, like Israel, has demanded Iran end its enrichment program altogether. Rising and Mednick write for the Associated Press and reported from Dubai and Tel Aviv, respectively. AP writers Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul, Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Farnoush Amiri and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Two days of terror: How the Minnesota shooter evaded police and got caught
NEW HOPE, Minnesota, June 21 (Reuters) - Vance Boelter's disguise wasn't perfect. The silicone mask was somewhat loose-fitting and his SUV's license plate simply read "POLICE" in black letters. But it was good enough on a poorly lit suburban street in the dead of night. At 2:36 a.m. on Saturday, 30 minutes after authorities say Boelter shot and seriously injured Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, he paused behind the wheel of the SUV near the home of another senator, Ann Rest, in the city of New Hope. The SUV was stocked with weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles, as well as fliers advertising a local anti-Trump rally scheduled for later Saturday and a written list of names of people he appeared to be targeting. Senator Rest, prosecutors would later say, was among those Boelter set out to kill on June 14. As Boelter sat in the SUV down the street from Rest's home, another police car - this one an actual police car - approached. A female officer from the New Hope police department, after hearing about the Hoffman shootings, had come out to check on Rest. Seeing the SUV, complete with flashing lights and police-style decals, she believed the man inside was a fellow officer. But when she attempted to speak to him - one officer greeting another - she got no response. Instead, the man inside the SUV with police markings simply stared ahead. The New Hope officer drove on, deciding to go ahead and check on Rest. Rest would later say the New Hope officer's initiative probably saved her life, an opinion shared by New Hope Police Chief Timothy Hoyt. "With limited information, she went up there on her own to check on the welfare of our senator," Hoyt told Reuters. "She did the right thing." The brief interaction in New Hope underscored the carefully planned nature of Boelter's pre-dawn rampage and how his impersonation of a police officer, including body armor, a badge and a tactical vest, confounded the initial attempts to stop him. After the encounter with the New Hope officer, Boelter, 57, drove away from the scene, moving on to his next target. Police would pursue him for another 43 hours. In the process, they would draw in a phalanx of state and federal agencies, in what ranks as the largest manhunt in Minnesota history and added to the sense of disorientation in a nation already grappling with protests over immigration, the forcible removal of a U.S. Senator from a press conference and a rare military parade in Washington. Federal prosecutors say they may seek the death penalty for Boelter, who has been charged with murdering two people and trying to kill two others, in what Governor Tim Walz has called a "politically motivated" attack. Prosecutors said they are still investigating the motive and whether any others were involved. Boelter has yet to enter a plea. Manny Atwal, a public defender representing Boelter, said he was reviewing the case and declined to comment. This reconstruction of the manhunt is based on court documents, statements by law enforcement officials, and interviews with a Boelter friend, local police officers, lawmakers, and residents of the impacted neighborhoods. While the events unfolded like something out of a TV crime drama, there were parallels with past shooting sprees, criminal justice experts said. James Fitzgerald, a former FBI criminal profiler, said he would not be surprised if Boelter studied a mass shooting in Canada in 2020, when a gunman posing as a police officer killed 22 people in the province of Nova Scotia. "These guys always do research beforehand. They want to see how other killers were successful, how they got caught," said Fitzgerald, who helped the FBI capture the "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski in 1996. "And, of course, a way you're going to buy yourself some time is to pose as a police officer." Hoffman Shooting The violence began at the Hoffman's brick split-level home in Champlin, a leafy, middle-class suburb of Minneapolis. With his emergency lights flashing, Boelter pulled into the driveway just after 2:00 a.m. and knocked on the door. "This is the police. Open the door," Boelter shouted repeatedly, according to an FBI affidavit. Senator Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, soon determined Boelter was not a real police officer. Boelter shot Senator Hoffman nine times, and then fired on Yvette, who shielded her daughter from being hit. As Boelter fled the scene, the daughter called 911. The Hoffmans were on a target list of more than 45 federal and state elected officials in Minnesota, all Democrats, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson told a briefing on Monday. Boelter voted for President Donald Trump, was a Christian and did not like abortion, according to his part-time roommate, David Carlson. Carlson said Boelter did not seem angry about politics. Thompson said Boelter "stalked his victims like prey" but that the writings he left behind did not point to a coherent motive. "His crimes are the stuff of nightmares," he said. "His crimes are the stuff of nightmares," Thompson said. After the Hoffman's, the next address plugged into Boelter's GPS system was a lawmaker about 9 miles away in the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove. Surveillance cameras from the home of State Representative Kristin Bahner show a masked Boelter ringing the doorbell at 2:24 a.m. and shouting "Open the door. This is the police. We have a warrant," the FBI affidavit says. Bahner and her family were not at home. From there, Boelter moved on to New Hope and the close encounter with the officer who had dispatched to Rest's home. After that, he wasn't seen by police again until he arrived at the residence of Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the state House, in Brooklyn Park. Sensing that Hortman might be a target, Brooklyn Park police officers had decided to check on her. When they arrived at 3:30 a.m. they saw a black Ford Explorer outside her house, its police-style lights flashing. Boelter was near the front door. When Boelter saw the officers exit their squad car, he fired at them. He then ran through the front door on the house, where he killed Melissa and Mark Hortman, her husband. When Boelter left the Hortman's home, he abandoned his fake-police SUV. Inside the car, police found a 9mm handgun, three AK-47 assault rifles, fliers advertising a local anti-Trump "No Kings" rally and a notebook with names of people who appear to have been targets, according to court documents. From that point, Boelter was on the run. Little has been revealed about his movements during the period, although police say he visited his part-time residence in north Minneapolis. He also sent texts. In one, to his family's group chat, Boelter writes, "Dad went to war last night". In another, to a close friend, Boelter says he may be dead soon. Police also know that by early morning on Saturday Boelter had met a man at a Minneapolis bus stop who agreed to sell him an e-bike and a Buick sedan for $900. The two drove to a bank where Boelter withdrew $2,200 from his account. A security camera shows Boelter wearing a cowboy hat. But it took until 10:00 a.m. on Sunday for authorities to close in. Police searching the area near Boelter's family home in the rural community of Green Isle, discovered the abandoned Buick, along with a cowboy hat and handwritten letter to the FBI in which Boelter admitted to the shootings, prosecutors said. Law enforcement scrambled to set up a perimeter surrounding the area, SWAT teams and search dogs were deployed, and drones were put in the air. It was the trail camera of a resident, however, that provided the final clue, capturing an image of Boelter around 7:00 p.m., allowing officers to narrow their search. Two hours later, the pursuit ended with Boelter crawling to police. He was armed but surrendered without a fight. (reporting by Nathan Layne and Tom Polansek in Minneapolis and Joseph Ax in New York; editing by Paul Thomasch and Nick Zieminski)
Time Magazine
2 hours ago
- Time Magazine
Iran Issues New Grave Warning to Trump, U.S.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Saturday that if the U.S. were to get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict, the result would be 'very, very dangerous' for everybody. 'The tweets, interviews by the U.S. President, [it's] quite clear that he's talking about the U.S. leadership on these questions [of a potential U.S. involvement],' Araghchi told reporters. 'Unfortunately, we have heard that the U.S. may join in this aggression. That would be very unfortunate and I think that would be very, very dangerous for everybody.' Araghchi also claimed that Iran has 'many indications' that the U.S. has been involved in Israel's bombardments of Iran since 'day one.' These remarks come amid uncertainty and debate as to the potential U.S. involvement in the conflict and what that might look like moving forward. Trump, who has said that the U.S. has not been involved in the Israeli strikes thus far, has given himself two weeks to make the decision as to whether the U.S. will strike on Iran. 'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,' said Trump, in a statement delivered by the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday. Leavitt went on to add that 'if there's a chance for diplomacy, the President's always going to grab it, but he's not afraid to use strength as well.' The U.S. and Iran had long been engaged in talks, in the hope of reaching a nuclear deal. Read More: How Netanyahu Pushed Trump Toward War Officials from both countries were set to meet in Oman's capital of Muscat last weekend for the next round of nuclear discussions. But Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi announced that, in light of the Israel-Iran active conflict, those talks would no longer be going ahead. This came after state television reported that Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei called nuclear talks with the U.S. 'meaningless.' While Trump has called for Iran to return to the table, Iranian officials appear to be reluctant. 'In order for us to come back to diplomacy, the aggression should be stopped,' Araghchi said on Saturday. 'I cannot go to negotiation with the United States when our people are under bombardment, under the support of the United States.' Trump has stated multiple times in the first months of his second term that a deal with Iran would have to include a ban on the nation enriching uranium—something that would allow them to produce nuclear weapons. He has also called for something more permanent than a cease-fire. 'We're looking for better than a cease-fire,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One on June 17 as he left the G7 summit. 'A real end, not a cease-fire. An end… giving up, entirely.' Trump later doubled down on his view of what Iran should do via a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, writing: 'UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!' Read More: Here Are the Top Iranian Generals and Scientists Targeted and Killed by Israeli Strikes However, Trump has delivered cryptic responses when asked exactly if and how the U.S. might get involved in the Middle Eastern conflict. On Wednesday, when asked if the U.S. is 'moving closer' to striking Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump said: 'I may do it, I may not do it, nobody knows what I'm going to do… I can tell you this. Iran's got a lot of trouble. They want to negotiate. I said, 'Why didn't you negotiate with me before? All this death and destruction.'' He later said in the Oval Office: "I like to make the final decision one second before it's due, because things change, especially with war.' Meanwhile, Araghchi's new warning is the latest in a long line of stern words and threats from Iranian officials in regards to a potential U.S. involvement in the current combat. Read More: Iran's Supreme Leader Calls Out Trump, Threatens 'Irreparable Damage' If U.S. Joins Israeli Conflict On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei threatened 'irreparable damage' if the U.S. joins the Israeli conflict. 'The Americans should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,' Khamenei said in a televised address. 'The U.S. entering in this matter [war] is 100% to its own detriment. The damage it will suffer will be far greater than any harm that Iran may encounter.' The Israel-Iran conflict has entered its ninth day and shows no signs of slowing down. Israel's initial strikes on Iran, conducted in the early hours of June 13, targeted multiple nuclear and military sites, amid rising concerns of Iran's nuclear capabilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes, part of Operation Rising Lion, 'would continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.' Iran followed through on its promise to retaliate, and the rivals have been trading deadly missiles and threats since, with the reported death tolls in both countries rising as a result.
