Gainesville is the latest city around the state to have antisemitic flyers show up at homes

Andrew Caplan, The Gainesville Sun
·3 min read
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Several antisemitic flyers have been found in driveways and on people's front doorsteps in Gainesville.

Gainesville police have had several reports from locals who say they were on the receiving end of offensive flyers over the weekend, which appear to mirror others being sent around the state and in other parts of the country.

Last week, the Palm Beach Post reported that law-enforcement agencies began finding the flyers in places as distant as suburban Boca Raton, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Vero Beach, Jacksonville and Orlando.

Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe said Sunday that he had not specifically heard about the messages reaching the city but added that it's "just disgusting."

"Gainesville stands with all of our neighbors in condemning these antisemitic attacks in the strongest possible terms," Poe said. "They do not represent the welcoming and loving community we are. Please report any instances of any antisemitic attacks to GPD."

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Though it's unclear how or why people were targeted, one Gainesville resident who spoke with The Sun, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the situation, said they found the flyer around 8 a.m. Sunday in their Rosemont neighborhood and called GPD and the FBI's Jacksonville office.

Though they are Jewish, other neighbors who aren't also found the flyers in their yards.

The flyers are small sheets of paper with a QR code next to an offensive drawing of what is intended to be a Jewish man. On the back are 17 questions, that ask who owns the media, censorship, slave trade, vaccines, the attack on guns, immigration, "the gay agenda," and "race mixing agenda." Each time, "Jews" is written as an answer.

The papers come in clear bags weighted down by corn kernels, a tactic also seen in the other cities.

Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Student and Community Center

Rabbi Berl Goldman, co-director of the Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Student and Community Center at the University Florida, said it's not the first time he has heard of antisemitism messaging in Gainesville. Each time, he says, it has the opposite effect.

Rabbi Berl Goldman, Chabad UF Jewish Student Center, prays with UF student Jacob Giner during an event to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah at the Plaza of the Americas on the University of Florida campus.
Rabbi Berl Goldman, Chabad UF Jewish Student Center, prays with UF student Jacob Giner during an event to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah at the Plaza of the Americas on the University of Florida campus.

"To anyone who thinks spreading the information will further their sick, demented cause, they should know it will only bend good people together, especially in a loving, beautiful Gainesville," Goldman said. "The answer to antisemitism, bigotry and hate, across the board, is education and loving acts of kindness."

Last week, Congressman Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg, called for a federal investigation after learning of the flyers, saying he was deeply disturbed and disgusted by the "hateful pieces of propaganda."

Hate crimes are defined as criminal offenses motivated by an offender's bias of race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation and disability.

Anti-Defamation League

Reports related to antisemitism in Florida have increased in recent years, the Anti-Defamation League said. It received 190 reports in 2021, up from 127 in 2020 and 91 in 2019.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Antisemitic flyers seen around Florida find way to Gainesville