Residents in a Monroe County, Pennsylvania neighborhood say they’re horrified after finding disturbing anti-Jewish flyers outside their homes last week.
East Broad Street in East Stroudsburg is known for its quiet and tight-knit community. It’s an area residents like Adam Anik say he would never expect to experience hate.
But on Thursday, around half a dozen residents found antisemitic messages on their driveways and mailboxes.
“Quite graphic and clearly photocopied and there were all sorts of disclaimers at the bottom on the back that you were not targeted, these were randomly placed,” says Anik.
The plastic bags were filled with corn and two different flyers attacking the Jewish faith. One of them reads that it has “distributed thousands and thousands” of messages across America and that it is “not intimidation.”
The bottom of the flyer provides a link to a Jewish supremacist streaming platform.
NGO StopAntisemitism has been following the group responsible for these antisemitic flyer drops. The group in question is the white supremacist group, the Goyim Defense League. The group travels the country intimidating Jewish communities with antisemitic flyer drops.
is often spread by white supremacists like Jon Minadeo II's and his group 'GDL' via their flyer and banner drop campaigns across the country.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) February 1, 2023
These types of vilifications and libels often inspire other antisemites to act, like Sanchez. pic.twitter.com/4B8T2LR1NO
Anik says he immediately reached out to his neighbors to find the person responsible.
“Some of them just threw them out, some of them never even knew they got them because I collected them before they saw them. So I explained to them what it was and they were horrified.”
Anik tells us he then brought the flyers to state representative Tarah Probst’s office who delivered them to Stroud Area Regional Police.
“Hate has no home in the 189th district and whoever is you know the culprit of delivering these hateful messages, I really hope that the police can find them,” said Probst.
With the shockwave of the messages still on the minds of residents, Anik says he wants to know the reason why someone did this.
“This is not going to solve any problems and just make things worse all the way around. We’re better than this.”