Anti-Semitic fliers target Atlanta suburbs
"I’m coming for you with the weight of the State behind me."
Several predominately Jewish neighborhoods in metro Atlanta’s northern suburbs woke up to hateful fliers in their driveways Sunday morning. The incident comes as concerns mount about the alarming rise in anti-Semitism across the country over the last year.
The fliers, which described a sacred Jewish text as “satanic,” were folded into plastic bags that contained pieces of corn to prevent the wind from blowing them away.
State Rep. Esther Panitch (D-Sandy Springs) was among those who received the disturbing literature. Panitch, the only Jewish member of the Georgia Legislature, said she immediately alerted the police and that they confiscated the plastic bags for testing.
The Sandy Springs attorney happens to be co-sponsoring legislation this session that would establish anti-Semitism as a form of hate under state law. And she has a warning for those responsible for Sunday’s incident: “I’m coming for you with the weight of the State behind me.”
Greg Bluestein, the chief political reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, says his family also received the “hate mail” over the weekend.
Officials in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody are actively investigating the incident, but it is believed that the fliers are linked to two hate groups that are rooted in anti-Semitism.
Political leaders on both sides of the aisle were quick to condemn Sunday’s incident. “This kind of hate has no place in our state and the individuals responsible do not share Georgia’s values,” Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted. “We will always condemn acts of antisemitism.”
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock said that “we must all speak out against antisemitism wherever & whenever it rears its ugly head.”
Sunday’s incident is just one of several recent hateful acts targeting the Jewish community. And the Anti-Defamation League recently found that the number of Americans who believe anti-Semitic tropes is at an all-time high.
“Over three-quarters of Americans (85 percent) believe at least one anti-Jewish trope, as opposed to 61 percent found in 2019. Twenty percent of Americans believe six or more tropes, which is significantly more than the 11 percent that ADL found in 2019 and is the highest level measured in decades.”
Public statements and actions by athletes, entertainers and even politicians targeting the Jewish community are believed to be adding fuel to the fire. “Antisemitic incidents were at a record high from when we started keeping track of them in 1979 and in Georgia they increased by 133 percent,” one expert said in November.
But it has also become a rallying cry for Jewish leaders across the metro Atlanta area. “I just think it’s time that we have a different approach. We are spiritual siblings,” one rabbi told Atlanta News First. “I think sometimes we don’t appreciate the power of prejudice.”