Anti-Semitic Flyers Were Distributed in Many Areas of Pennsylvania

In addition to being disseminated in Berks County, PA, there were also reports of anti-Semitic flyers in the Lehigh Valley and all over Pennsylvania

Areas where anti-semitic flyers were reported in PAPhoto byAnti-Defamation League

***This is a follow-up to an article I wrote on Wednesday, June 21st, 2023.

On Wednesday, June 21st, 2023, I wrote an article detailing the distribution of anti-Semitic flyers in my neighborhood in Cumru Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Our neighborhood received flyers weighted down in a plastic Ziplock bag with corn kernels overnight on Tuesday into Wednesday morning.

These flyers claimed that "every single aspect of the slave trade was Jewish" and listed the names of purported Jewish people who supposedly owned slave ships.

Some concerned neighbors filed reports with the Cumru Township police but were told that it was their First Amendment right and that nothing could be done unless someone was being threatened or targeted.

When I wrote the first article, I had no idea that other neighborhoods in Pennsylvania received similar flyers at their homes.

Police were investigating anti-Semitic flyers that popped up in Upper Macungie Township in Lehigh County last week. According to the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, members of the white supremacist group Goyim Defense League are behind the antisemitic flyers that were found in different parts of PA.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Goyim Defense League (GDL) is a loose network of people brought together by their hatred of Jewish people. The group consists of five or six public figures/leaders, dozens of supporters, and thousands of online followers.

The group was founded by a man named Jon Minadeo II who moved from Petaluma, California to Florida in December 2022.

GDL operates Goyim TV, a video platform that consistently posts anti-Semitic content. GDL is involved in anti-Semitic stunts and schemes to troll or otherwise harass Jewish people. GDL is most visible and active in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New York, South Carolina, and Texas.

The word "Goyim" is a derogatory term in Yiddish and Hebrew for non-Jews. GDL attempts to spread conspiracy theories against Jews and blame them for everything they consider to be a social ill, such as abortion, feminism, the media, and 9/11.

They are also Holocaust deniers. GDL maintains that the Holocaust is a Jewish lie and that accounts of the Holocaust are merely propaganda or lies generated by Jews for their own benefit.

It is not certain how far these flyers were distributed around Pennsylvania or what the GDL's specific motive was for doing it, but there was at least one woman in the comments of my last story from Wyomissing, PA that reported she had received the same flyer. Wyomissing is about 5-10 minutes from the Cumru Township neighborhood that received the flyers.

Congresswoman Susan Wild, who represents the Lehigh Valley, condemned the dissemination of the flyers on the House floor on Friday.

She called the flyers “horrific” and “hateful,” and that they were found by families – and in some cases by children.

“I am a proud Jewish American, but antisemitism isn’t just a threat to those of us who are Jewish, it a threat to all of us,” Wild said.

“Antisemitism, like other forms of bigotry that spread lies and stoke hatred, is an existential threat to our values as Americans.”

She also called on the community to pull together against antisemitism, stating, "It takes all of us, drawing strength and community from one another, to stand up to those who want to divide us.”

In April, the Jewish Federation also announced that it was joining the nationwide Stand Up to Jewish Hate campaign, whose goal it is to educate Americans about the rise in antisemitism and help address rapidly growing hate and intolerance.

The Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley and the ADL said any type of antisemitic incident should be reported to them. The JFLV’s form can be found here, and the ADL reporting page for antisemitic, based, or discriminatory incidents is here.