Antisemitic flyers scattered in Sarasota neighborhood for the third time this year

Holly Bullard's bike ride Tuesday morning finished with a grim discovery: hateful propaganda at the foot of her driveway in Vamo.

A Ziplock bag weighed down by dry rice held a folded flyer targeting various public figures of Jewish descent — including billionaire philanthropist George Soros and Emanuel Celler, a former U.S. congressman who died in 1981 — and blaming current immigration trends on the Jewish community.

Bullard said she was angry upon finding the flyer, feeling violated at the idea of an ill-intentioned stranger getting so close to her front door.

"It's not social media. It's not a tweet. It's something tangible saying terrible things that you don't think represents your community," she said.

Previously: Sarasota Jewish leaders disturbed, frightened at distribution of anti-Semitic flyers

And: Vandal defaces two Sarasota Jewish temples

Bullard also said she checked her neighbors' driveways and found several plastic baggies with the same anti-Semitic rhetoric.

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office confirmed the distribution around the Vamo area, adding that similar material was left in a neighborhood on Siesta Key from Monday night through Tuesday morning.

"We are investigating the incidents and trying to ascertain who might be behind these horrendous acts," Douglas Johnson, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said in an email to the Herald-Tribune.

Genevieve Judge, a spokesperson for Sarasota Police, said the agency had not received any recent reports regarding the flyers within city limits.

Brian Lipton, the director of the American Jewish Committee's Florida west coast office, expressed his disappointment over the distribution of anti-Semitic material.

"Why, why, why is there so much hate?" Lipton said.

Disturbing trend

Bullard's discovery marks the third time this year anti-Semitic material has been found at Sarasota residences.

In February, flyers were found blaming the COVID-19 pandemic on the Jewish community.

The Herald-Tribune reported then that the Sheriff's Office and Sarasota Police said they were investigating the incident, with the Sheriff's Office coordinating efforts with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces.

However, in March, residents in Arlington Park woke up to flyers detailing anti-Semitic conspiracies — also folded in Ziplock bags, with rice, dropped at the foot of each driveway. Some of those flyers were titled "Every single aspect of the Ukraine-Russia War is Jewish" while others repeated the previous month's COVID-19 propaganda.

Bullard expressed her concern over the hateful trend.

"Who's this person out there who spent all this time creating these things?"

Lipton cited a 2021 survey from the American Jewish Committee claiming that one in four American Jews have personally targeted by anti-Semitism in that year.

The same survey said that 82% of American Jews believe acts of anti-Semitism have increased in the U.S. over the past five years.

"We need to stand proud," Lipton said. "We won't be intimidated. We're doing nothing wrong. America is a land where people from all over the world have come together, and that diversity is what makes us strong."

"People need to realize that these acts are not just anti-Jewish. They're anti-American."

Stefania Lugli covers a little of everything for the Herald-Tribune while pursuing watchdog/investigative stories. You can contact her at slugli@heraldtribune.com or dm her on Twitter at @steflugli.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Anti-Semitic flyers dropped at the foot of south Sarasota homes