Nation’s First Anti-Jihad Resolution Passed by Chicago City Council

Our triumphant African coalition, including the Reverend Zamani Kafang of Nigeria; Simon Deng, former slave from South Sudan; Dr. Gloria Puldu, representative for current Nigerian slave Leah Sharibu; Chicago alderman Raymond Lopez; Stephen Enada of the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON); and Hacen El Kheir, a Mauritanian abolitionist.

Success: The Chicago City Council has adopted the African Jewish Alliance’s anti-jihad resolution

On Wednesday, February 19, 2025, less than a week after 70 Christians were beheaded by terrorists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Chicago City Council resolved to stand with the African victims of Islamic terrorism and modern-day slavery.

The resolution’s final, adopted text expressed the Chicago City Council’s denunciation of the “ongoing enslavement of Africans within some Arab states by radical terrorist organizations,” calling it a “violation of international humanitarian law and a crime against humanity.” It included a statement calling for America’s third most populous city to “stand in solidarity with all victims of slavery including the people of Sudan, South Sudan, Nigeria and Mauritania, who have endured centuries of oppression and enslavement.”

You can also watch the video of our African friends’ testimony before the city council’s Sub-Committee on Health and Human Relations — of which the relevant portion begins at 22:06 — here.

The African Jewish Alliance, which initiated this effort — joined by our allies in the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON), Simon Wiesenthal Center, StandWithUs, and the Abolition Institute in lobbying and campaigning for the resolution — now seeks to propose this or similar resolutions in other cities.

The AJA was formed one year ago when ICON’s Enada asked Charles Jacobs, in light of his past helping to liberate slaves in Sudan, to help today’s victims of an Islamic jihad that has spread to his country.

Read Charles Jacobs and Ben Poser’s new article in JNS describing this victory here.

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