NORFOLK, Va. — A Norfolk neighborhood is horrified by disturbing flyers found at their doorsteps. Several people found papers with anti-Semitic messages outside their homes this weekend.
Many homeowners on Belvedere and West Belvedere Roads in Norfolk found plastic bags filled with corn and flyers with messages attacking the Jewish faith. Swastika graffiti was also found on the corner of 33rd Street and Colonial Avenue.
“This piece of trash is not representative of people’s goodness or what they say is evil. This is a piece of trash at the end of the day," Norfolk homeowner Sarah Howell said.
On Sunday, Sarah Howell found a bag in her front yard depicting what many are calling anti-Semitic messages.
“Emotion wise it’s just an embarrassment for whoever did this," Howell said.
Rabbi Levi Brashevitzky leads Chabad of Tidewater in Norfolk and said the hateful rhetoric is not breaking down his faith.
“It’s a time for us to work together and restore positivity and kindness. And we can do so by introducing or reintroducing acts of positivity, charity, and good and making it routine in our lives," said Brashevitzky.
This is not the first time this kind of flyer has spread across Hampton Roads.
In July of last year, 13News Now reported similar pamphlets tossed in people’s yards in Virginia Beach. An Anti-Defamation League spokesperson said the flyers come from a group called the Goyim Defense League.
The group’s name is also on the newest flyers in Norfolk.
Meredith Weisel of the Anti-Defamation League said they’ve received several calls about the issue over the weekend.
“They are targeting all different communities and they are trying to spread just these awful things and anti-Semitic things that they are saying," Weisel said.
Howell said she threw the flyer in the trash and hopes to never see the hateful messages again.
“They should be ashamed of spending their time doing something like this instead of living something a lot more productive," Howell said.
Weisel said the Anti-Defamation League is working with a task force launched by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares to investigate acts of anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Under the Virginia Human Rights Act, the attorney general can investigate and prosecute religious discrimination at the workplace or any incidents that happen in public and educational institutions.