The past year has been marred with an ever-present sense of sadness and grieving for Jews worldwide. October 7 was our September 11; a day where every Jew can tell you exactly where they were when they heard the horrific news of what occurred to our people in Israel on that day.
Tragically, this sadness and grieving have been coupled with a level of disappointment and abandonment that we never could have anticipated. Disappointment over the lies being spread so quickly about our people. Disappointment over the sheer lack of empathy being shown for the victims. Abandonment by neighbors who seemed to stand up and bolster any other cause that came their way. Abandonment by local leaders who took part in rallies against us.
The first anniversary of the horrors of October 7 recently arrived, bringing to the forefront of our minds just how many of our lives were altered irreparably on that day.
And then the unthinkable happened. This past Saturday I faced my own personal experience of terror and fear when a shooter appeared on my street — the street where my children play — with the intention of murdering a Jew. The shooter targeted a family friend of ours who was walking to Saturday morning prayers at our synagogue. He was cruelly shot from behind without warning.
My role on that day was one of bystander and witness. Helpless to stop the horrific act that was being committed right outside my door.
As I rested in bed reading, I heard a loud popping noise; my baby was soundly asleep in the room next door. Only after I heard the screams of the victim did I realize that the noise I was hearing was gunshots.
I looked out the window and saw the shooter running. A thin brown man with thick shiny black hair.
I quickly reached for my phone and dialed 911; an act that felt foreign and surreal.
My neighbors and I were lulled into a false sense of security when the police arrived. Their presence gave us all a sigh of relief as dog walkers reemerged and women walked by pushing their strollers. But fifteen minutes later the shooter reappeared, this time firing at the police.
After the second round of shots, I looked out my window and saw a neighbor hiding behind a tree with his dog. There was a break in the shooting so I opened my front door to offer him refuge inside my home. He jumped when he looked at me and said he was fine. He quickly ran away and I closed my door and returned to the window. I then saw the shooter creep out of my driveway, stand on my neighbor’s lawn and shoot towards my neighbor and his dog.
In that moment, I realized this wasn’t a typical gang-related crime or a robbery gone wrong. This was terrorism in my front yard. I grabbed a kitchen knife and barricaded myself in my sleeping baby’s room. I moved furniture, called my parents, and pleaded with the police for help.
A Jewish man walking to synagogue was shot in Chicago on Saturday.
Malka shared her security camera footage with The Daily Wire, which captured the shooter screaming “Allahu Akbar” and shooting at first responders when he returned to the scene 20 minutes later. pic.twitter.com/qhD11WMA1b
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) October 28, 2024
Had he seen my giant Israeli/American flag? Would I be able to hide my baby so he would think I’m alone?
After a few minutes, a neighbor called and told me that the police had neutralized the shooter and it was safe to come out.
I spent hours that day talking to the police and showing them videos, even though it was the Sabbath when I do not normally use technology.
When replaying the video with my husband after the Sabbath we heard the chilling war cry of “Allahu Akbar” shouted by the terrorist during his confrontation with the police. If we had been questioning the fact that this was a hate crime before, our question was clearly answered with this footage.
A visibly Jewish man was targeted in a Jewish neighborhood while walking to synagogue on a Saturday morning. The fact that this was a hate crime seemed absolutely clear. We started to send the video clip out to our friends and it spread like wildfire. Soon, news reporters were knocking on my door asking permission to play the video. I was hopeful that showing this video would help the Chicago community understand what happened. Hours were spent talking to reporters and signing consent forms. It felt empowering to be able to contribute and help in some way. The victim needed privacy to recover, but what I needed was to feel like the pain of this past weekend was being acknowledged by the public.
As the days passed, we were shocked by the Mayor of Chicago’s slow, tepid response to this violent act of anti-Semitism. When charges were brought by the DA’s office we were stunned to learn that the shooter was not being charged with a hate crime. It was framed as just another shooting — an all-too-common occurrence in Chicago. To add salt to the wound, the FBI initially withheld his immigration status and place of residence for no apparent reason.
The media coverage of this event brought on the next wave of shock and disappointment. There was no mention of the shooter’s words of “Allahu Akbar” and completely avoided using the words “hate crime” or “anti-Semitism.”
When I reached out to the news editor to question why the video I provided was edited to remove the shooter’s words, I was told that showing that part of the clip was “inflammatory.” Rather than giving viewers and the public an unbiased report of what had occurred outside my front door, the media was concerned about being “inflammatory.”
What news outlets such as the Chicago Tribune did not seem to find inflammatory was the headline “Police: Man, 22, critically injured in Far North Side shootout with cops.” Presenting the shooter as some kind of potential victim of a police shooting; leaving it up to the reader’s imagination to decipher what may have occurred. This was yet another sickening distortion of the truth by the media, in a year filled with endlessly misleading headlines against Israel and the Jewish nation.
All my efforts to speak to the press and give them the truth have been in vain. The Daily Wire is the only news source that published our video in its entirety. The media is fabricating a world completely divorced from the truth because reality interferes with what they wish to believe is true.
Mayor Brandon Johnson appears incapable of holding space for the pain we have faced this year with unrelenting anti-Semitism rising at frightening rates across the U.S. The media refuse to report the truth because it would bring to light that some Muslims truly believe in intifada, and the realities of intifada are much uglier than woke college kids can imagine as they chant, “Globalize the intifada.”
I don’t see myself ever trusting mainstream media again. If their job is to report on the truth they have utterly failed. I call on my fellow Chicagoans to expect better from our elected officials and the FBI. We need to elect leaders who care about Chicagoans of all races, ethnicities, and religions.
The Chicago Jewish community will continue to grapple with our collective sadness and grieving during this year of heartbreak. We are not victims but fighters and survivors, as history has repeatedly shown. We will continue to join together and confront the anti-Semitism we are surrounded by and offer each other love and support. We will continue giving back to our greater community in positive ways, like we always have. And maybe one day, we won’t need to do it alone.
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M. Reich is an engineer by degree and stay-at-home mom by trade. She is a proud Jewish American who lives in Chicago.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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