Dozens of fliers were found Sunday along Union Street, Pacific Avenue and Divisadero Street, according to neighbors and reports we've seen online. Similar fliers were found overnight in the Miami area and police there are actively investigating and have increased patrols.
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"It was a small plastic baggie weighted down with some rice and it had a flier that said the entire COVID agenda was Jewish," Aurora, who lives in Pacific Heights, told ABC7 News.
Aurora, who is Jewish and asked ABC7 News keep her last name private, noticed the offensive fliers while on a walk Sunday morning. She reported the fliers to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which tracks antisemitic incidents.
"The fliers lean on old antisemitic tropes that blame the Jewish community for the ills of society," Teresa Drenick, the ADL's Deputy Regional Director, told ABC7 News. "And it is important to call out antisemitism when we see it. We cannot sweep that under the rug."
Drenick said the same fliers were also reported over the weekend in Chico, Calif. and several other states, including Florida, Texas, Colorado, Maryland, Wisconsin and Florida. Nearly identical fliers were found in Southern California last month.
The ADL said they are aware of the group behind the fliers. They said it's a loosely organized extremist group that espouses vitriolic antisemitism and white supremacist themes online. The leader is based in Sonoma County.
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The ADL is asking anyone who finds fliers from this group to report it.
"We want to make sure that law enforcement investigates and gets to the bottom of exactly what is going on," Drenick said.
The fliers come at a time of unrest among Jewish communities across the country following the hostage situation at a synagogue in Texas earlier this month and an overall nationwide rise in antisemitic incidents.
"Nationally, the Anti-Defamation League reported over 2,000 anti-Semitic incidents in 2020," Drenick said. "That is the third highest tally that we've recorded since we've tracked it in 1979, and we know in the year 2021 the incidents increased."