A majority of the City Council’s 50 members are demanding that Mayor Brandon Johnson condemn an artwork on display at the Chicago Cultural Center as antisemitic and order its removal.The display, titled "U.S.-Israel War Machine," includes two puppets. One depicts “Uncle Sam” with blood on his face and a T-shirt that includes a tank, the word “money,” a dollar sign and the words, “Thank You” with a smiley face.Standing next to the Uncle Sam figure is a puppet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with blood on his hands. Next to the second puppet’s hand is an MK-84 aircraft bomb on a stick, with smoke coming out of the explosive device.The artwork also features a bucket labeled “TEARS” with four oversized drops coming out of it. Wooden posts supporting the puppets include the words, “child killer.” Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th), the City Council's lone Jewish member, said she asked Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Clinee Hedspeth to remove the puppet display, but Hedspeth refused. Another part of the puppet display named “U.S.-Israel War Machine” that sits in a gallery at the Chicago Cultural Center. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times Instead, Hedspeth agreed to take down the sign bearing the artwork's title. Hedspeth also agreed to add a warning in front of the exhibit saying that the display “may contain sensitive content.”“I asked her if she would take down the puppets, which is the most offensive part of it all. She said she would not take it down without first talking to the artist,” Silverstein said.Hedspeth, reached by phone, would not discuss her refusal to remove the puppet display. She promised to “give a comment shortly.” Hedspeth would not reveal the name of the artist.Removing the title and adding a warning was nowhere near enough to satisfy Silverstein. A letter from Silverstein and 26 other Council members sent to the mayor Tuesday called the artwork "unprotected hate speech" and sought its removal.“The description said the U.S. was supporting Israel, sending arms to Israel and working together with Israel — and called them child killers. That’s very offensive. It crosses the line into hate. The whole display is ... anti-American and antisemitic,” she said. Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th). Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file Johnson’s relationship with many Jewish leaders has been strained ever since he cast the tie-breaking vote on a nonbinding resolution demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.The relationship was further strained by Johnson’s refusal to fire his chief lobbyist, Kennedy Bartley, and remove 33rd Ward Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez as chair of the City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations for their social media posts viewed by Jewish leaders as antisemitic.The mayor initially defended his appointment of the Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson as president of the Chicago Board of Education, only to have the clergyman resign the next day after antisemitic comments were found on his social media pages.“The relationship with the Jewish community is already terrible. And it’s really frustrating to me that we’ve had so many incidents since Oct. 7 of them taking the wrong step, not trying to mend fences, continuing to do things that are going to upset the Jewish community,” Silverstein said, referring to the date of Hamas' attack on Israel in 2023.Special Events Committee Chair Nick Sposato, who represents the 38th Ward, said he has agreed to summon Hedspeth to a hearing to discuss the puppet display. He also considers the display anti-American and antisemitic. "In this world, you can bash America as much as you want, but when you bash other groups, that's a different story," Sposato said.David Goldenberg, Midwest regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, called the puppet display “deeply offensive” because it “spreads lies and misinformation about Jews.”Goldenberg said he was hopeful this month when the mayor signed a Holocaust Remembrance resolution and met with some members of the Jewish community, but the puppet display is a definite setback.“If the mayor is serious about having a reset with the Jewish community, there is a desire to do so,” Goldenberg said. “But there also has to be some significant steps taken by the mayor to make clear that antisemitism and the scapegoating of the Jewish community with falsehoods and misinformation is not going to be tolerated. And we haven’t seen him take that step.” Ald. David Moore (17th) did not sign Silverstein’s letter, arguing that removing the puppet display would violate the First Amendment.“If it was directed against any ethnic group, I would be the first to condemn it. But it’s pointing a finger at the government. That’s something we can’t censor,” Moore said.Ed Yohnka, spokesperson for the ACLU of Illinois, criticized the Council members' effort to have the artwork removed, saying aldermen "carry many responsibilities in their role in the city. Acting as art critics and the arbiters of what is appropriate art and commentary is not part of their charge." In 1988, a handful of African American alderpersons stormed the School of the Art Institute and removed a painting of former Mayor Harold Washington in women’s undergarments.Chicago police officers then took the offensive painting into custody overnight as art students chanted, “fascists” and “racists.” A civil rights lawsuit filed by the student artist ultimately forced the city to pay a $95,000 settlement to resolve the litigation.Going forward, the city agreed to seize materials protected by the First Amendment only in limited circumstances.Silverstein said she has no intention of storming the Cultural Center to remove the puppet display, adding, “That’s not my style.”