Downtown alder catching flak for tweet about Hezbollah pager attacks

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A Chicago Alderman is getting some heat for a social media post following the pager and walkie-talkie explosions attributed to Israel that have killed and wounded people in Lebanon and Syria.

Alderman Brendan Reilly posted a photo of a pager.

The message screen read "Mazel tov, a Jewish phrase meaning “good luck.”

A number of people responded critically before he took it down.

Wednesday, Mayor Brandon Johnson was asked his thoughts.

“I didn’t see the tweet,” Johnson told reporters. “If that’s what he did, that’s beyond offensive and he should apologize for it.”

Reilly told CBS News Chicago , “It was just a tweet.”

On Tuesday, pagers used by hundreds of Hezbollah members exploded almost simultaneously in parts of Lebanon as well as Syria. The attack killed at least 12 people — including two young children — and wounded thousands more.

An American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Israel briefed the U.S. on the operation — where small amounts of explosives hidden in the pagers were detonated. The Lebanese government and Iran-backed Hezbollah also blamed Israel for the deadly explosions. The Israeli military, which has a long history of sophisticated operations behind enemy lines, declined to comment.

A day after these deadly explosions, more detonations triggered in Beirut and parts of Lebanon Wednesday — including several blasts heard at a funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by Tuesday's explosions, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene.

At least 25 people were killed and more than 600 were wounded, the Health Ministry said, in this apparent second attack.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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