PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating after residents found antisemitic flyers at dozens of homes in at least three South Florida and Treasure Coast counties, authorities said.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said dozens of flyers — stuffed inside plastic ziplock bags that were also filled with dried corn — were found around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday on the driveways of homes in the 7900 block of Chula Vista Crescent in the Boca Del Mar community of suburban Boca Raton.
A sheriff's office spokeswoman said it appears the flyers were thrown from a vehicle onto the driveways. She added that "no written threats" were made on the antisemitic flyers, which have been collected as evidence.
Rabbi Efram Goldberg with the Boca Raton Synagogue tweeted images Tuesday that appeared to show the flyers stuffed into plastic bags.
"Antisemitism came to our backyard last night as these were left in driveways around our neighborhood," Goldberg wrote. "Never think this growing danger won't find you."
Antisemitism came to our backyard last night as these were left in driveways around our neighborhood. Never think this growing danger won't find you. The Goyim Defense League who produced these are others must be stopped and held accountable. pic.twitter.com/3woU3BUzDc
— Rabbi Efrem Goldberg (@RabbiGoldberg) June 28, 2022
"On the one hand, it's startling to see people distribute such a thing and could want to hurt people or think or talk about it in such a way," Goldberg told WPTV. "Unfortunately, in another way, it's not shocking at all."
Meanwhile, the Broward Sheriff's Office said its Threat Management Unit is now investigating after someone left antisemitic pamphlets at several homes in Parkland on Tuesday.
A resident in the 6700 block of Northwest 63rd Way contacted the sheriff's office around 12 p.m., saying she found a bag containing a pamphlet and corn kernels on her driveway.
Deputies found bags with "similar hate speech directed at people of the Jewish faith" at several other homes in the neighborhood, the sheriff's office said.
The antisemitic pamphlets showed the "faces of prominent politicians with the Star of David on their foreheads," along with references to "gun control and immigration."
"You've seen what's been happening over the last period of time. An enormous spike in antisemitism in general, discrimination, bigotry," Goldberg said. "And to see people who are able to act so freely, to feel so comfortable to be able to spread and share that hatred, is deeply disturbing."
The sheriff's office told WPTV on Wednesday the flyers were also found in neighborhoods in Boca Raton and Vero Beach and law enforcement agencies there are now investigating.
The Vero Beach Police Department posted images of the pamphlets on Facebook, saying they were found in the driveways of several homes on June 23.
The bags were discovered in the 500 and 700 blocks of Tulip Lane, along with the 1500 block of Coral Avenue.
"This is happening all over of the United States," the police department wrote. "If you receive one of these bags, contact your local law enforcement agency to collect them."
A spokesman for the Vero Beach Police Department called the flyers "hateful literature," but said no threats were made toward anyone.
If you have any information about who distributed the flyers, call Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 1-800-458-TIPS or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-800-273-8477.