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Twitter Fact Checks Rashida Tlaib Tweet Accusing Israeli Government of 'Violent Apartheid'

Twitter provided a fact-check of a March 25 tweet from Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) accusing the Israeli government of “violent apartheid” over an inaccurate representation of a video.

Tlaib’s was quote-tweeting a since-deleted March 24 tweet from the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) claiming that Israeli soldiers were attacking “Palestinians celebrating the first day of the holy month of Ramadan in occupied Jerusalem. This is Israeli apartheid.” “This is the violent apartheid government of Israel,” Tlaib wrote in her tweet. “Don’t look away.”

However, below Tlaib’s tweet is Twitter’s context box saying: “The context of this video is that the Israeli police were separating a fight among Palestinian teenagers at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem.” One of the citations is to a Jerusalem Post article saying that the teenagers had started fighting before police arrived and that the claim that Israeli soldiers were attacking the teenagers came from Palestinian media.

Democratic Majority for Israel called for Tlaib to take down her tweet. “It’s false and dangerous,” they tweeted. “The police didn’t attack the Palestinians; they stopped them from attacking each other. This is just the latest in your pattern of using false reports to delegitimize and demonize the world’s only Jewish state.”

“Don’t look away,” AIPAC similarly tweeted. “This is a member of Congress promoting a dangerous, anti-Israel lie that incites further conflict and violence. Even after proven false, she still hasn’t taken down her post. Why is @RashidaTlaib adding fuel to the fire instead of calling for calm and peace?”

StopAntisemitism called Twitter’s fact check of Tlaib’s tweet “a perfect start to the week.”

NYPD Investigates Swastika at Columbia Law School

A swastika was found drawn inside a restroom stall in Jerome L. Greene Hall on Thursday, according to an email from Columbia Law School Dean Gillian Lester sent to the Law School community on Friday.

The Hate Crimes Task Force unit of the New York City Police Department was notified, and an investigation is ongoing, the NYPD confirmed. The symbol has been removed, and there have been no arrests yet, according to the NYPD.

“This racist and antisemitic symbol has no place on our campus nor within our community,” Lester wrote. “Such despicable indicia of hatred, and the bigotry they invoke, are starkly antithetical to our core values as an institution whose very essence is rooted in a commitment to inclusion and respect.”

Aditi Thakur, Law ’23, president of the Law School student senate, wrote in a statement to Spectator that a first-year law student messaged her on GroupMe over spring break to report the incident and request assistance in contacting the building authorities. Thakur said she alerted the building administration, who she said removed the symbol.

Tonight, a vote was unanimously passed by the student senate to release a statement to the law school student body in response to the incident and condemning antisemitism on campus.

“We are deeply disturbed by this hateful incident on the premises of the Law School, and strongly echo Dean Lester’s statement addressing it,” the Senate wrote.

The Law School student senate, through their newly-formed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee, and the Jewish Law Students Association are planning a joint in-person event on combating antisemitism, the email said. The event, which is still in the early stages of planning, is meant to engage students on the issue of antisemitism on campus, Thakur said.

Michigan GOP Slammed for Comparing Gun Reform to Holocaust

The Michigan Republican Party has received backlash from political leaders on both sides of the aisle for posts on social media Wednesday that compared the Holocaust to gun safety measures being considered in the state.

The posts, shared on the state party’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts, inaccurately claim that Democrats leading the Legislature are trying to disarm Michigan gun owners. A photo accompanying the message appears to match an image stored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, showing rings confiscated from Jewish prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp.

“Comparing gun safety measures to the mass extermination of 6 million people is hateful and ignorant, and it comes from party leaders who are out of ideas and catering to the fringe of the fringe,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is Jewish, wrote on Twitter in response.

The gun safety package was introduced by Democrats in response to two school mass shootings in a 15-month span, including last month's Michigan State University shooting that took place less than 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the state Capitol. It would add universal background checks, requirements for safe storage and extreme risk protection orders, also known as red flag laws.

Democrats and Republicans swiftly condemned the posts and called for them to be taken down. Matt Brooks, chief executive of the Republican Jewish Coalition, responded to the Twitter post, saying it “is absolutely inappropriate and offensive and should be taken down immediately.”

Recently-elected Michigan GOP chairwoman Kristina Karamo wrote on Twitter that the state party "stands by our statement" and added that the Democratic party "currently fights to murder unborn children" and is attempting to "disarm us."

NGO StopAntisemitism, one of the leading watchdogs combating Jew hatred, quickly condemned the GOP’s comparison.

A former community college professor, Karamo lost her secretary of state race in the 2022 midterms by 14 percentage points after mounting a campaign filled with election conspiracies. After winning the GOP chairwoman seat, she inherited a state party torn by infighting and millions in debt.

The social media posts follow a recent wave of comparisons to the Holocaust and Nazis that scholars and organizations have said are concerning.

Italy Bans Germs Fan over 'Hitlerson 88' Jersey, Imprisonment Pending

Roman authorities have banned and charged the Lazio fan who wore a pro-Hitler shirt at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.

A supporter in the Monte Mario Grandstand attended the Rome derby wearing a shirt with the name 'Hilterson' and the number 88 - an abbreviation of 'Heil Hitler' in neo-Nazism. 

The fan is set to face charges under the 1993 Mancino law against gestures, actions, and slogans hailing Nazism or Fascism. 

Police swiftly launched an investigation after the match and, thanks to video footage, identified the individual as a man of German nationality who was involved in a pitch invasion during the Rome derby in 2009, according to Italian outlet ANSA.

If found guilty, the supporter could face jail time of up to 18 months and a fine worth 6,000 euros (£5,275).

Lazio narrowly beat bitter rivals Roma 1-0 to climb to second in Serie A behind runaway leaders Napoli, as three red cards were dished out during the explosive grudge match.

A group of Lazio fans aimed antisemitic chants toward the Roma supporters, mocking them for 'praying in the synagogue.’  Prosecutors are now investigating the chants.

Rome's Jewish community has since condemned the alleged antisemitic behavior. 

Ruth Dureghello, president of the Jewish community of Rome, wrote on social media: 'An entire stand chanting antisemitic chants, a "fan" in the stands wearing a Hitlerson jersey and the number 88, and we, as always, the only ones outraged and protesting.

Tucker Carlson's Producer Served with Lawsuit over Antisemitism in the Workplace

A producer on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show mocked a Jewish employee for going to a "Jew bakery" to "see his people," a Fox News producer alleged in a lawsuit against the right-wing media company.

Abby Grossberg filed the lawsuit in Manhattan court on Monday against Fox News and several of its executives. 

Her lawsuit claims that she and other Jewish employees were repeatedly discriminated against for being Jewish.

The suit details an encounter between one producer on Tucker Carlson Tonight and another employee, a Jewish man and producer on the same show. 

During the holiday season in 2022, the Jewish worker went to a Jewish bakery and brought a babka — which is a historically Jewish sweet bread — to the office, the lawsuit states. 

"When the first producer learned that there was babka in the office, he began to loudly and obnoxiously demand that the Tucker Carlson Tonight booking team have 'the bread made by the Jews,'" the suit alleges. 

Then, whenever the Jewish employee would visit the bakery after that, the worker "loudly proclaimed to the Tucker Carlson show booking team that the Jewish employee went to the 'Jew bakery,' and that he had gone 'to see his people,'" the suit alleges. 

The lawsuit says that this "incredibly demeaning and offensive conduct made even worse by the fact that the employee endorsed others in the office to repeat these offensive remarks."

In response to a request for comment about the allegations, a Fox News spokesperson said: "This allegation is patently false and never happened."

Grossberg's lawyer Parisis Filippatos told Insider that the lawsuit "very clearly depicts victimization by Fox" of Grossberg and other employees. 

The two workers named in the lawsuit as being involved in the alleged antisemitic incident did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

Northern Atlanta Area Hit with Antisemitic 'GDL' Flyers

The antisemitic leaflets were found tossed in the yards and driveways of several neighbors in the Bridge Mill subdivision of a Cherokee County neighborhood.

“I was furious,” neighbor Hilary Sosebee told Channel 2′s Veronica Griffin. “Obviously there’s still hate out there.”

Sosebee and other neighbors said they woke up Sunday morning to find the flyers with hate-filled messages towards Jewish people.She told Griffin that there are over 3,000 homes in a normally quiet neighborhood.

“There was a number of homes in the neighborhood that got them. It wasn’t targeted. It seemed like they went up and down the street, and most homes had received them,” Sosebee said.

NGO StopAntisemitism has attributed the antisemitic flyers to the white supremacist group, the Goyim Defense League (GDL). The GDL is led by Jon Minadeo II. Minadeo was recently cited in Florida for handing out similar antisemitic leaflets.

In recent months hateful flyers were left at homes in neighborhoods in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs.

Sosebee told Griffin that she reached out to her rabbi for guidance on how to deal with the flyers. “The answer was not to just throw it away, let people know,” she said.

Cherokee County police said they are aware of the flyers and are looking into it.

Queens School and Residential Complex Vandalized with Nazi Symbols

Two swastikas were found in separate locations in Rego Park and Forest Hills Tuesday, lawmakers said.

One of the antisemitic illustrations was found at Stephen A. Halsey JHS 157, located at 102nd St., near 63rd Drive, lawmakers said, while the other was found at 110-11 Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills.

“Our local leaders and fellow neighbors will never become complacent in the face of such vile acts of hate,” reads a joint statement by Rep. Grace Meng, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, Council Member Lynn Schulman, and Senators Leroy Comrie and Joe Addabbo.

“We remain strong in supporting one another and condemn these acts of antisemitism and cowardice for what they are,” said the statement.

Police reported the incident to lawmakers at about 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. The graffiti in Forest Hills was removed as of Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for Hevesi confirmed.

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident, lawmakers said.

Hundred of Antisemitic Stickers Plastered Around Philadelphia Area Town

A spate of stickers promoting white supremacist & neo-nazi organizations popped up in Port Richmond, seemingly over the weekend. Their numbers are quickly dwindling as residents pull them down.

White Lives Matter Pennsylvania — one of the groups featured in the stickers — shared a video Monday on its public Telegram channel showing people pasting the messaging on street poles, bollards, Parks & Rec signs, and other surfaces. 

In the caption, the group claims to be sending a “message of hope and defiance” to the “Delaware Valley,” describing it as necessary work to create “solidarity” among white people.

A post on reddit calling out the Port Richmond stickering garnered over 400 comments and sparked a discussion on racism and white supremacist views in the neighborhood. Matt, who posted the photos, came across the stickers while walking his dog on Monday morning. 

“I think the neighbors have shown that they’re not really standing for this, for the most part,” Matt told Billy Penn Tuesday afternoon. “But it doesn’t mean that the people that put them up aren’t still talking behind closed doors and doing whatever the hell they do.”

One of the stickers in the photo he posted to Reddit bore the slogan, “Anti-racist is code for anti-white.” Another pledged solidarity with Kanye West’s recent antisemitic comments.

Matt, who asked to keep his last name private, said he took around 100 stickers down himself on Monday, though he couldn’t nab all of the hundreds more he saw. 

“I did about two miles of the area, up and down Richmond Street and up and down Edgemont Street,” Matt said. He’d planned to do more, but when he stepped outside today, he saw his neighbors had chipped in. 

“A lot of street poles were either clean — and cleaner than I got them off — or people put stickers over top of them,” said Matt. 

An officer in the 24th Police District, which covers the neighborhood, said there haven’t been any calls from residents about the stickers. 

A recently released “activist manual” from White Lives Matter describes stickering as an efficient tactic for small decentralized networks seeking to share media widely. The manual notes that the postings are primarily meant to shepherd attention to their Telegram channel, where interested observers can find ways to participate in white supremacist actions and meetings. 

Coordinated propaganda sharing, like what was seen in Port Richmond this week, can also be a precursor to further action, experts say.

Former San Jose Firefighter Sues City over Antisemitic Abuse

A former San Jose firefighter is suing the city, claiming she was the target of racist and antisemitic attacks, was sexually harassed by her supervisors, and that San Jose officials failed to prevent it.

Casilia Loessberg, 35, a Black former Marine, alleges in a civil suit filed Feb. 22 that while working at a downtown-area fire station in 2017 and 2018 that her supervisor, Clint Smith, “professed beliefs about being a Nazi sympathizer” on many occasions and was never disciplined.

Loessberg was the first woman assigned to work at station No. 3, according to the lawsuit, which claims it had a “rough and tough” reputation and was known as “the Cowboy station.”

Despite not being Jewish, Loessberg alleges she was the target of numerous antisemitic comments and incidents perpetrated by Smith.

“Smith asked Casilia if she was Jewish. She told him that she believed she is German. He insisted to her that she was Jewish because of her last name, while also talking about genocide and saying that Jews should all be put into ovens,” Loessberg claims in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit states that on “at least one occasion” Smith drew swastikas on the station’s kitchen whiteboard, and that fire captain Bryan Marks observed the drawings.

“Captain Marks told Supervisor Smith to calm down but did not otherwise discipline him in any way for his open hostility toward African Americans and ‘Jews,’” the lawsuit claims.

It also says Smith would “regularly and openly make racist and antisemitic remarks, including continual use of the ‘N’ word, statements about genocide of the Jewish people, and his support of the Nazi Party.”

Smith “repeatedly suggested that she was Jewish and thus was the intended target of his antisemiticism,” according to the lawsuit, and that she “suffered and continues to suffer extreme emotional distress and severe trauma.”

Smith also allegedly made numerous sexual advances toward Loessberg and would invite her to his home when his wife and children were absent, according to the lawsuit.

The most current Transparent California salary records show Smith was paid $226,000 as a San Jose firefighter in 2021. A spokesperson for the city confirmed he is still employed by San Jose.

Other firefighters from stations 3, 9 and 34 are named in the lawsuit, which also claims repeated sexual assault and harassment. After participating in a sexual harassment training in late 2021, Loessberg reported the abuse to the human resources department, the lawsuit alleges.

She was interviewed three times over the next year by representatives of San Jose following her initial report, according to her suit.

Loessberg claims in December 2021 she was “constructively discharged” from her employment as a San Jose firefighter, a legal term meaning that she left her job because of intolerable working conditions.

Georgia Community on Edge After Uncovering Anti-Jewish 'GDL' Propaganda

Someone is throwing flyers with antisemitic messages in the driveways of one Athens, Georgia, neighborhood.

Neighbors and the Jewish community are calling on law enforcement to step in, saying it's another example of hate in Georgia.

John Watkins says he first noticed the flyers on Thursday. He said he was taking the trash out when he noticed the propaganda's messaging.

"I was kind of disgusted and kind of sad," Watkins said.

The flyers contain hateful messages and images seemingly aimed at the Jewish community.

NGO StopAntisemitism has been tracking these antisemitic incidents and attributes the anti-Jewish flyer to the white supremacist group, the Goyim Defense League (GDL). The GDL is led by Jon Minadeo II. Minadeo was cited last week for distributing similar flyers in Florida. Florida has recently advanced legislation that would charge individuals like Minadeo with a series of felonies when distributing these hateful flyers.

Watkins says he expected more from his community. "We're better than this," he said. "It's 2023, and we're stepping back."

Rabbi Eric Linder with Congregation Children of Israel in Athens has noticed a rise in antisemitism now spreading from other cities in Georgia, such as Atlanta and Cartersville, to Athens.

"It is absolutely scary. And it's something that we have to take seriously," Linder said. "And it just shows the unfortunate reality that antisemitism continues to be real."

Linder has already been hearing from his congregation. He's hoping the hate doesn't turn into a bigger issue.

"The support and friendship that we have from our community are absolutely there," Linder said, "And I have no question that, even with this incident, it is by far the minority."

NYPD Arrests Woman for Punching Orthodox Jewish Man While Hurling Antisemitic Slurs

A Jewish man was repeatedly punched in the face while shopping in a store near St John’s Place and Kingston Ave on Thursday afternoon. 

The incident occurred this past Thursday at approximately 3:00pm. The victim was shopping in a store located near St John’s Place and Kingston Ave when a mentally unstable individual approached the victim from behind and started to demand money while yelling racial slurs. She then proceeded to attack the victim and repeatedly punched him in the face, and then fled the store.

The victim immediately called the police and Crown Heights Shmira. Shmira volunteers were successful in locating the perpetrator and directed the NYPD to her location, where she was arrested.

The victim was not seriously hurt.

Swastika Discovered in Connecticut Park

Someone carved a swastika into the right armrest of the oversized yellow chair by Great Hollow Lake, 454 Purdy Hill Road in Connecticut, according to an anonymous complaint made Saturday afternoon.

Police said the carving was two inches by two inches and appeared to be old damage, as the wood was weathered around it. Officers have no surveillance videos of the incident nor a time frame of when it took place.

The Monroe Department of Public Works was contacted to remove the offensive carving, according to police.

Neo-Nazi Group Hangs Antisemitic Banner and Spray Paints Swastikas in Central Alabama

A racist banner and two swastikas have been found painted on an abandoned hospital in Ensley in a predominantly African American neighborhood.

The incident has unnerved residents and prompted community leaders to speak out and reach out to CBS42.

At the back of the Holy Family Community Hospital, which has sat abandoned for about 40 years, the banner reads “One Nation Against Invasion” and is signed the Patriot Front, which the Southern Poverty Law Center designates as a white nationalist hate group.

“The fact that they would come into a Black community and put their calling card on a building is very disgusting,” said resident and business owner Alexander Brewer.

Brewer joins a number of neighbors in Tuxedo Court pushing back against what they describe as a message of hate and racism. They believe someone broke into the property a few weeks ago and painted the images.

They are calling for the perpetrators to be caught, and they emphasized that hate has no place there.

“Is it a form of intimidation? Or is it a form of a statement that they’re making that says that ‘you’re reachable by us … we can get you wherever you are,'” Brewer said.

“It was appalling,” said community activist John Meehan.

Meehan has lived in the area his whole life, and he first noticed the sign on Saturday while driving down I-59. Then, he said he alerted others and called the police.

“This is 2023; this is not the 1960s. For a group like this to come into our community that wants to start hate, we’re not gonna tolerate it,” Meehan said.

According to the NGO StopAntisemitism, the Patriot Front targets communities of color and plants signs like this around the country to make the group seem larger and more influential than it actually is. Former “Antisemite of the Week” Chris Hood was a former member of the Patriot Front before he was kicked out for using the group’s funds to buy drugs.

The hospital is on private property owned by Randal Scott with the Scott Contracting Company. Frost said he spoke with him regarding the sign, and Scott replied that he would take care of it this week. CBS42 reached out to Scott but didn’t hear back.

CBS42 also contacted the office of Mayor Randall Woodfin regarding the incident, and they provided the below statement:

“The city has been very responsive in removing such imagery from public rights of way. When placed on private property, the owner is responsible for addressing the matter. The city has been active in assisting in notification to property owners.”

Vandals Target Nashville Homes with Antisemitic Graffiti

Metro Police are looking for two people suspected of spray-painting swastikas and hate messages on five homes in the Sylvan Park area early Sunday.

A Ring video from one of the homes showed a person walking up to the front porch and spraying paint onto the camera, then trying to tear a flag down from the front porch and painting on a wall of the home. A second person was visible in the video.

The vandalism occurred at homes on Westlawn Drive and Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and Idaho Avenues. 

NGO StopAntisemitism shared additional information regarding the hate crime with their audience on Twitter.

Chief John Drake with Metro Police has directed an increased patrol presence in the Sylvan Park area, as well as in the areas of Jewish institutions in the city.

West Palm Beach Hit Again with Over 500 Antisemitic 'GDL' Flyers

More leaflets with antisemitic messages were thrown on lawns in West Palm Beach. This time around 500 items were found Saturday in the Flamingo Park neighborhood, just one week after material was found in Northwood and recently several other places in Palm Beach County.

Residents in the south end of Flamingo Park called police. The agency said three men in a rented U-Haul truck — the same ones last week — were responsible. They again were cited for littering, the only statute on the books police can use.

NGO StopAntisemitism, a leading non-partisan US-based organization fighting and exposing Jew-hatred, has identified the white supremacists responsible for littering the antisemitic flyers as members of the Goyim Defense League (GDL). StopAntisemitism has been tracking the GDL’s movement across the nation. GDL’s leader, Jon Minadeo II, has been protesting the advancement of HB269. The Bill would make it a felony to litter antisemitic or racist literature throughout the state of Florida.

"The fact is if you're going to litter in our city we have state statues on the books that we can enforce and we will take action when our neighbors raise those concerns," West Palm Beach spokesman Mike Jachles said.

If more neighbors come forward and give written statements to police at 561-822-1900, officers could be able to give the men responsible more citations of upwards of $150.

Like in the past, the messages came in plastic bags with pellets. Last week about 100 items were collected and distributed by five people.

On Tuesday, Palm Beach County commissioners took action to curtail the recent rise of antisemitic messages. By a unanimous vote, commissioners passed an emergency ordinance prohibiting the unauthorized projections of signs onto buildings, structures and other places. The ordinance, which took effect immediately, will fine first-time offenders $1,000 and repeat violators from $5,000 up to $15,000 if the Palm Beach County master finds the violation irreparable or irreversible in nature.

CUNY Students Rewarded for Attending Hateful Anti-Israel Events

Students at a community college in New York city are offered extra credit for participating in anti-Israel, antisemitic events on campus that present a one-sided version of the Israeli-Arab conflict, says a watchdog group.

S.A.F.E. CUNY, an NGO that “advocates for Zionist Jews systematically discriminated against and excluded” at CUNY, expressed concern last week about an exhibit approved by senior administrators at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC-CUNY).

The exhibit, which was displayed in a “highly-trafficked, public area,” expressed sympathy with “Intifada (a call to murder Israeli Jews),” S.A.F.E. CUNY wrote on its Twitter account.

“Among the falsehoods and tropes leveled at Jews and Israel: 1) That Israel “targeted” journalist Shireen Abu Akleh for murder; 2) that Israel is guilty of ‘ethnic cleansing’; 3) that Israel is a settler-colonial state; and more,” the group continued.

Dr. Jenna Hirsch, Associate Professor of Mathematics at CUNY- BMCC, told United with Israel that she was stunned the clearly biased exhibit had been approved by administrators.

“The students are actually offered official credit, which will appear on their BMCC transcript for participating in these anti-Israel events!” Dr. Avraham Goldstein, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at CUNY- BMCC, told United With Israel.

“S.A.F.E. CUNY should bring to the public attention that as a result of these systematic anti-Israel activities, visibly Jewish students and faculty, and especially Orthodox Jews and Israelis and Zionist Jews, no longer feel safe on campus,” Goldstein continued.

“We believe that the rise of the antisemitic assaults and attacks on the CUNY campuses in the recent year or two (as admitted even by the top CUNY officials themselves) is caused by this anti-Israel hysteria promoted by BMCC Social Justice & Equity Centers and their systemic campaigns of hate and libeling.”

Goldstein encouraged donors to reconsider giving funds to the school until “the situation is straightened out,” and encouraged S.A.F.E. CUNY to examine any legal actions at their disposal.

“The students are actually offered official credit, which will appear on their BMCC transcript for participating in these anti-Israel events!” Dr. Avraham Goldstein, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at CUNY- BMCC, told United With Israel.

“S.A.F.E. CUNY should bring to the public attention that as a result of these systematic anti-Israel activities, visibly Jewish students and faculty, and especially Orthodox Jews and Israelis and Zionist Jews, no longer feel safe on campus,” Goldstein continued.

“We believe that the rise of the antisemitic assaults and attacks on the CUNY campuses in the recent year or two (as admitted even by the top CUNY officials themselves) is caused by this anti-Israel hysteria promoted by BMCC Social Justice & Equity Centers and their systemic campaigns of hate and libeling.”

Goldstein encouraged donors to reconsider giving funds to the school until “the situation is straightened out,” and encouraged S.A.F.E. CUNY to examine any legal actions at their disposal.

Syracuse Area School Vandalized by Antisemitic Graffiti

UPDATE March 29, 2023: Police in Skaneateles, New York, said they have identified juveniles as being responsible for an incident of what a village board member described as "hate-filled vandalism;" more here.

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Village police are investigating vandalism that appeared overnight in Skaneateles, police said Saturday.

Numerous messages were spray painted on school property, sidewalks, roads, and street signs, police said in a news release. Antisemitic graffiti was found on Leitch Avenue, they said.

Police have removed the graffiti and messages, they said. State police’s counter-terrorism intelligence unit and other agencies were involved in the initial investigation into the messages.

New Jersey Neighborhood Cased with Anti-Jewish 'GDL' Propaganda

On Friday, March 17 around 8:30 in the morning, Theresa Charrkas was out walking her dog on Maple Place in Clifton, NJ, when she spotted something unusual on a neighbor’s lawn. She went over to get a closer look and saw that it was a full-color flyer, folded in half and stuck in a Ziploc-type baggie. There was also an unknown substance inside which she said, “looked like rabbit food.” She further posited that it may have been put in the baggie in order to prevent it from being blown away. A closer look revealed a confusing message on the flyer, “Every single aspect of gun control is Jewish.”

Charrkas walked to the next house and spotted a similar baggie there. The message facing up in this one read, “Every single aspect of abortion is Jewish.” 

NGO StopAntisemitism is one of the leading watchdog organizations following and reporting about the Goyim Defense League (GDL). StopAntisemitism has followed their antisemitic leaflet drops across the nation. The GDL’s leader, Jon Minadeo II, recently engaged in an antisemitic exchange with law enforcement when he was approached about a similar flyer drop in Florida this weekend.

The flyer also has photos of several politicians, all with large six-pointed stars, also called Stars of David, on their foreheads. A logo on the flyer suggests the shape of the Nazi swastika.

Growing concerned, she walked on to a third house and found yet another of the same antisemitic propaganda on the lawn. “I wasn’t sure if I should touch them,” she said, and so Charrkas went to a neighbor, Margaret Curreri, to ask for advice. Curreri encouraged Charrkas to call the police, which she did. She then returned to her house to see if there was a similar thing on her lawn but saw nothing at any of the homes on her street.

Police showed up a few hours later and canvassed the area, looking for any additional baggies, but found none. They also viewed footage from Curreri’s Ring camera but found nothing which showed who was responsible. Charrkas said that two of the three baggies had been collected before the police arrived, probably by the homeowners, she thought. “I didn’t even realize we had a community policing department. I was happy to see them canvassing the area,” she said.

Curreri, who also saw the antisemitic messages, said, “I am outraged, to say the least, of this antisemitic propaganda turning up on my street and in my neighborhood, or anywhere. This type of hatred is unwarranted and despicable.”