Majid Matariyeh, a Palestinian American, walks through Federal Plaza in The Loop, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Time
Tensions in the Middle East are high, with Iran and Israel trading drone strikes in recent days. Looking ahead, University of Chicago student Hassan D. doesn’t worry so much about direct violence. He worries about his family in Iran facing increased retaliatory sanctions .
“It doesn’t scare me that much that there will be a war on Iran that will put my family at risk of, let’s say, being hit with missiles...,” said Hassan, 21, who didn’t give his last name out of privacy concerns. “I think the sanctions are going to get worse, and slowly that will kill people.”
In the wake of Iran’s unprecedented missile attack on Israel last weekend, the fear of an escalating conflict is sinking in for Hassan other Chicagoans with ties to the Middle East. As those in the region brace themselves for a possible expanding war, they worry for the safety and well-being of their families.
Hassan D. an Iranian American student walks through Federal Plaza, in The Loop, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Time
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza and Israel, St. Xavier University student Majid Matariyeh has already been hearing bleak updates from family members in Gaza and the West Bank. As young cousins of his die of starvation, other relatives in Jordan are rioting in support of Palestinians.
Matariyeh said he’s scared for his family’s safety, but doesn’t want to let them think he’s lost hope.
“The way I see it, there’s always going to be that sense of fear wherever you go, whether it’s in America, whether it’s in Jordan, whether it’s in Palestine,” he said.
Roscoe Village teacher Itai Segre, 37, grew up in Jerusalem and moved to the U.S. nearly eight years ago. His parents and siblings still live there. Watching the war unfold from afar has sparked a familiar sense of anxiety paired with resilience. His family has been through similar military tension before, he said.
“I’m scared of an escalation in the war that gets out of hand,” Segre said. “Wars are unpredictable, you don’t know where they will go, who will be hurt and how it will unfold.”
“It is different than times in the past, but it’s not the first time it’s been very tense,” he said.
Hassan D., an Iranian American student, sits in Federal Plaza, in The Loop, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Time
Iran launched hundreds of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles into Israel last weekend in response to Israel’s attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus on April 1. Israeli military reportedly responded Thursday with a strike in the city of Isfahan, according to U.S. officials, but Israel has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack. The U.S. also issued new sanctions on Iran Thursday to “further degrade Iran’s military industries.”
Experts and advocates have sounded the alarm for a full-blown regional war given the rapidly escalating tensions between Israel and Iran. Some American organizations, like the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Jewish Voice for Peace, remain critical of the U.S. support of Israel and push for President Joe Biden to call for a cease-fire. Others, like the Anti-Defamation League, say they are “supportive of ongoing diplomatic efforts” but saw issues with some cease-fire resolutions.
Serious sanctions have been in place in Iran for decades, altering the quality of life for people living in the country — including Hassan’s extended family on both sides. They struggle to access medicine, deal with intense inflation and reach certain Western websites. With the latest developments, he expects those daily tasks to grow that much harder.
“It is jadedness in a sense, but it’s accumulated trauma that builds on itself,” he said.
In Israel, the realities of the war are present in daily life, an “overhang” of uncertainty and anxiety, according to Deb Zaluda, a Lincoln Park lawyer and Jewish National Fund volunteer whose daughter lives in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Zaluda, who’s been to Israel several times since the October onset of the war on volunteer trips and to visit her daughter, says people are trying to maintain a sense of normalcy while also noting consequences of the violence or protesting the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Deb Zaluda, a Jewish American, with a daughter living in Israel, sits inside her Lincoln Park home, Thursday, April 18, 2024.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Time
“Everywhere you go in Israel, there’s photographs of hostages,” said Zaluda, 63. “There is that thought of just wanting to be aware of your surroundings.”
There’s the clear threat of violence following Iran’s recent involvement, but there’s also the threat of more militarization of the country, according to Segre.
“I am worried about if there’s a war going on, physical harm that could happen,” he said. “There’s also the possibility that the social fabric will change or break down in some way, and then there’s all kinds of dangers that can happen. I am also worried about Israel becoming more militarized than it already is.”
Itai Segre, and online school teacher stands near the West Belmont Avenue and North Leavitt Street intersection in the Bricktown neighborhood, Thursday, April 18, 2024.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Time
But the paramount concern for Segre is the safety his family and friends, but also of Palestinians in the area, many of whom were friends of his while he lived there.
“Basically everyone that lives in Israel and Palestine should have civil and human rights, regardless of their religion ethnicity or nationality,” he said. “It’s kind of a simple demand. For Americans it seems kind of trivial, but in Israel it’s not really seen that way.”
The trajectory of the war is uncertain, and sometimes people with ties to the region see their hope waver. But mindset is everything, Matariyeh says.
“If you have people around you that are hopeless you’re gonna feel hopeless,” he said. “If there’s people around you that say turn back to god, you’re gonna want to keep fighting the good fight.”
Though the outlook in the region may seem somewhat bleak, Hassan said that the threat of a regional war and more extreme sanctions on his family could have been avoided if a cease-fire resolution had been reached earlier.
“To me it’s this should have never gotten to this point. There should have been a cease-fire so much longer ago,” he said.
Las protestas contra la guerra han invadido los campus universitarios en las últimas semanas. Los estudiantes apoyan a los palestinos en los ataques de Israel contra Gaza, denuncian lo que llaman censura por parte de sus universidades y piden a las instituciones que dejen de invertir en fabricantes de armas y empresas que apoyan a Israel.
Tensions were higher Tuesday when hundreds of New York police officers raided Columbia University and City College of New York while a group of counterprotesters attacked a student encampment at UCLA.
“I remember coming out of my apartment one day and spotting Chicago cops dragging young protesters out of one section of Lincoln Park and shoving them into trucks, while nearby poet Allen Ginsberg was chanting in a circle of peaceful protesters not far away from the radical Abby Hoffman,” remembers Dan Webb, who later became a U.S. attorney.
Anti-war protests have swept college campuses in recent weeks as students support Palestinians in Israel’s attacks on Gaza, decry what they call censorship from their universities and call on institutions to divest from weapons manufacturers and companies supporting Israel.
Hundreds of University of Chicago students set up an encampment in the Main Quadrangle on Monday, joining groups on over 100 university campuses nationwide in support of Palestinians.
“Bad actors are using the cover of free speech in this moment of tension to normalize dangerous ideas that cause real harm to Jewish students and communities,” the museum said. But a member of Chicago’s Jewish Voice for Peace said the protesters are saying what Jewish institutions are “afraid to say.”
As the death toll mounts in the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities all over the U.S. are demanding that schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict.
Hundreds of protesters from the University of Chicago, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago and Roosevelt University rallied in support of people living in Gaza.
Students linked arms and formed a line against police after Northwestern leaders said the tent encampment violated university policy. By 9 p.m. protest leaders were told by university officials that arrests could begin later in the evening.
The video is the first proof of life of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was captured Oct. 7 in southern Israel. His parents have Chicago ties. Last week, his mother was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people of 2024.
A window of the Andersonville feminist bookstore displaying a Palestine flag and a sign calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war was shattered early Wednesday. Police are investigating.
The Democratic president Wednesday reached the end of a long, painful battle with Republicans to secure urgently needed replenishment of aid for Ukraine.
Chicago Reps. Delia Ramirez, Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia and Jonathan Jackson, all Democrats and the most pro-Palestinian members of the Illinois delegation, voted no on aid to Israel. GOP Rep. Darin LaHood split from his party to support aid to Ukraine.
Democrats are deeply focused on Wisconsin and Michigan to help bolster President Joe Biden’s re-election chances — and officials, in town for meetings hosted by the Democratic National Convention Committee, say they plan on showing voters a deep party contrast.
Rachel Goldberg was named for her extensive campaign calling for the release of her son and the other hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7. She grew up in Streeterville.
The Rev. Frederick Haynes III, pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, took over as president and CEO of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in February and had planned to run the organization from Texas.
“In the 45 years since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979, it has never been this bad,” said ADL Midwest regional director David Goldenberg. According to a new report, Illinois saw a 74% increase in antisemitic incidents in 2023.
About 20 elected officials and community organizers discussed ways the city can combat antisemitism, though attendees said it was just the start of the conversation. Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th) said the gesture was ‘hollow.’
The demonstration was part of a global “economic blockade to free Palestine,” according to organizers. Protesters also took to the streets in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the Brooklyn Bridge and Interstate 5 in Eugene, Oregon.
Opening day of fishing on Wednesday was a delight and a chance to savor the bounty and wonders of Hennepin & Hopper lakes at Sue and Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge.
Noem appears to have rather enjoyed herself executing her family dog. So much so that she followed up shooting the misbehaving pup with executing a rambunctious pet goat. There’s definitely something missing from her emotional tool kit.
