Governor hosts menorah-lighting ceremony in Springfield

Posted on December 15, 2023
Gov. JB Pritzker spoke with reporters Thursday at the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield. (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – When it was time to light a menorah Thursday afternoon on the front lawn of the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield, Gov. JB Pritzker could not sidestep the news of the day.

“Hate is evil,” Pritzker said. “To everyone here, remember that anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, anti-Christian, and anti-LGBTQ hate all are against God’s law. All of them. And they’re un-American.”

Afterward, Pritzker addressed the rise of hate into 2023. “I’d love to tell you that I was around for the worst of it over the last seventy years, but in my lifetime, I have not seen it as bad as it has been over the last several months. And I think that – let me be clear – I believe that the haters, people who are also Islamophobes, people who are also anti-LGBTQ, those are the same people that are rearing their ugly heads around anti-Semitism.”

Jewish faith leaders from around the state joined the governor.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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