Virginia is seeing a dramatic increase in reports of hate and attacks on people in the Jewish Community as News 3 has learned about hateful antisemitic flyers showing up in Hampton Roads neighborhoods.
Governor Youngkin’s Office reports that hateful flyers have popped up in 100 towns and cities across the state along with a spike in antisemitic reports of assaults, vandalism and harassment.
NGO StopAntisemitism has attributed the flyers to the Goyim Defense League. The league, run by neo-Nazi Jon Minadeo II, are no strangers to antisemitic flyers drops in the Virginia area.
The 'Goyim Defense League' is responsible for dozens upon dozens of antisemitic flyer drops vilifying Jews across the country.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 23, 2022
From California to Florida, Michigan to Virginia, Minadeo and his white supremacists cronies organize on his website hosted by @Cloudflare.
Rabbi Gershon Litt is the Executive Director of the Hillel at the William and Mary campus, the Jewish student organization.
“This is nothing new. This is something that we have been dealing with forever,” said Litt.
He said he takes students on trips to Jerusalem and asks them if they have personally experienced antisemitism. He said in years past about 10% to 20% would raise their hands, but recently he said almost all the students raised their hands.
Due to the number of problems – the Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares created a statewide task force to investigate.
“It’s ignorance, it’s scapegoating. It’s the same thing we’ve seen forever and the more polarized our society gets in the more that blame shows it’s ugly face,” said Litt.
To break down those barriers, Litt says education is key.
“As much as the people that hate want to put out their lies, it’s our job to counter that with the truth and the only way we can countered is to increase awareness, talk about the reality and what is the history of the Jewish people,” said Litt.