Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Goyim Defense League founder Jon Minadeo sentenced to 30 days in jail for antisemitic littering

The contents of the flyers that Minadeo was arrested for distributing did not factor into his prosecution

(JTA) — A prominent white supremacist has been sentenced to 30 days in jail in Florida for distributing antisemitic flyers — though the content of the material did not factor into his penalty.

Jon Minadeo II, the founder of the Goyim Defense League, was found guilty of littering in a jury trial Wednesday in Palm Beach County. Minadeo was arrested in March while distributing antisemitic literature out of the back of a U-Haul truck.

Distributing antisemitic flyers is a core activity of the Goyim Defense League, which Minadeo founded in California in 2018. The group was responsible for nearly 500 incidents of antisemitic propaganda in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League, making it one of the most prominent American antisemitic groups. Its members typically put antisemitic flyers in plastic bags and leave them, often weighted down with rocks, on public and private property.

Minadeo relocated to Florida last year, saying that he thought it would be more hospitable to his group’s operations. In fact, a new Florida state law, intended to curb neo-Nazi activity, makes it a felony to distribute hateful or intimidating materials on private property.

The law was passed after Minadeo’s arrest, so it did not factor into how he was prosecuted. He told a local news outlet from court on Wednesday that he thought his prosecution on littering charges was inappropriate.

“I do believe they’re trying to censor free speech by using tactics like littering,” he said.

Minadeo and his group have made headlines in the past for extremist activity including picketing synagogues in various states, flying antisemitic banners and projecting antisemitic messages on sports stadium, and says he has previously been arrested by Polish authorities for promoting antisemitism at the site of the Auschwitz death camp. Neo-Nazi groups like the Goyim Defense League have pounced on the rise of anti-Israel activism in the wake of the country’s war with Hamas to try to sway new members.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

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. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

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 credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link 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.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.