‘Goyim Defense League’ blamed for antisemitic flyers in Beverly Hills

By Louis Keene November 29, 2021

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.

Louis Keene is a reporter for the Forward. His work has also been published in The New York Times, New York Magazine and VICE. He is based in Los Angeles and can be followed on Twitter @thislouis.

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