‘Goyim Defense League’ blamed for antisemitic flyers in Beverly Hills
Several residents of Beverly Hills discovered an early Hanukkah present in their driveways Sunday morning: a flyer blaming Jews for the coronavirus pandemic.

Antisemitic flyer distributed in Beverly Hills
The propaganda appears to be the work of the Goyim Defense League, which the Anti-Defamation League describes as “a small network of virulently antisemitic provocateurs” that operates a hate-streaming website and organizes street actions.
The flyers, folded into plastic baggies that were weighed down by rice, said “every aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish,” and invoked the well-worn canard that the Jews control the media.
According to Rochelle Maize, a Beverly Hills homeowner who notified the police after she saw the flyers on a nearby block, said that entire blocks of homes got flyered but that it did not appear to target Jews.
In a statement posted to Twitter Sunday afternoon, the Beverly Hills Police Department said it was investigating the incident and that it would provide extra patrols throughout the city for the first night of Hanukkah.
It’s the second time this month that this flyer, emblazoned with a Star of David and a red pentagram (a reference to Satanism), has been disseminated in a Jewish neighborhood in the U.S. A similar incident occurred in Austin on Nov. 5, with residents finding Ziploc bags weighed down by pebbles on their lawns.
This weekend, people in a few cities in Hays Co received a disturbing letter. Negative actions motivated in bias is an attack against an entire community & not just an attack on a single person. This behavior is not acceptable. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/tOasZ3Go5I
— Judge Ruben Becerra (@rubenbecerrasr) November 1, 2021
On an 8.5”x11” piece of paper, the flyer lists officials from the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Health and Human Services, and various corporations whom it claims are Jewish. Not all actually are — for example, HHS secretary Xavier Becerra, who is on the list, is not, nor is Vanguard Chief Executive Officer Mortimer J. Buckley.
“It’s all propaganda, but the sad thing is sometimes people believe things,” said Maize.
In a similar action last year, the hate group, which is led by Jon Minadeo II, of Petaluma, Calif., hung an antisemitic banner from a freeway overpass in Los Angeles.
According to a news report, BHPD plans to review footage from home video cameras as part of its investigation.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.