Staffers urge Chicago mayor Johnson to call for cease-fire in Gaza

More than 30 staffers of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called on the progressive lawmaker to back a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war Tuesday, signaling increased pressures between Democrats over the conflict.

The letter, first reported by Politico, urges Johnson to join Chicago City Council member Rossana Rodríguez-Sánchez’s calls for Chicago leaders, President Biden and the Democratic Party to back a cease-fire.

“We are proud to be your staffers, we are proud to work with you to make Chicago a better city each and every day,” the letter reads. “However, we cannot be proud to be silent at a time when silence is complicity in atrocity.”

Calls for a cease-fire have divided Democrats, as progressives push back against the Biden administration for its ardent support for Israel amid the conflict. Progressives cite the significant civilian death toll in Gaza, estimated to be more than 11,000 people, including more than 4,600 children.

This month, hundreds of former Biden campaign staffers called on the president to back a cease-fire. Biden’s support for Israel has also faced significant dissent from within the State Department over concerns that it could weaken the U.S.’s position elsewhere in the Middle East.

More than a dozen House members, all progressives led by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), have backed a cease-fire, in addition to two Democratic senators: Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Dick Durbin (Ill.).

In the letter to Johnson, the staffers said the mayor has an obligation to back the measure in order to send a message to the Democratic Party, which will hold its 2024 convention in the city.

“In Chicago, residents have a tradition of seeing past the headlines and coming together to demand what is just, to hold elected officials and their staff to their duty of enacting policy that dismantles historic injustices,” the staffers wrote. “We see the need for our elected leaders to call for a ceasefire as directly tied to showing that our city is united in support of human rights.”

Efforts for a short-term cease-fire cultivated in an agreement late Tuesday. About 50 hostages will be freed in the deal, the Israeli government announced, over a four-day pause in fighting.

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said fighting will continue at the end of the short-term cease-fire.

“We are at war, and we will continue the war,” he said in remarks translated from Hebrew. “We will continue the war until we achieve all our objectives: Eliminate Hamas, return all our abductees and missing persons and ensure that there will be no element in Gaza that threatens Israel.”