By Mary Hladky
Scores of Boca Raton residents found anti-Semitic flyers on their yards or driveways on April 20, the date of Adolf Hitler’s birthday.
About 60 to 70 were distributed in the Golden Harbour neighborhood in the Lake Wyman area, according to Mark Economou, public information manager for the Boca Raton Police Services Department.
The incident was immediately condemned on Twitter by Mayor Scott Singer and U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton.
“Angry that this AM a cowardly hatemonger left antisemitic & pro-Hitler flyers in driveways at homes on 4 streets in our city,” Singer tweeted. “Unusual here; unacceptable anywhere. We stand strong & united against all bigotry & antisemitism.”
Deutch included a photo of the flyer in his tweet that showed Hitler’s face and the words, “Died fighting the human race’s eternal enemy, THE JEW.”
The flyer was inside a ziploc plastic bag that was weighted with dry corn kernels.
“Hitler attempted to eradicate the Jews from the earth. His Nazis slaughtered 6 million Jews,” Deutch wrote on Twitter. “This vile antisemitism must be universally condemned. And the cowards spreading this hate must be held accountable.”
The police department is investigating and had no additional information as of April 26.
Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S., including assaults, harassment and vandalism, reached an all-time high of 2,717 in 2021, a 34% increase over 2020, the Anti-Defamation League said in an annual report released on April 26.
Among states, Florida, with 190 incidents, ranked fourth in the nation behind New York, New Jersey and California.
The ADL’s figures show that a majority of the Florida incidents took place in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, which have large Jewish populations.
Anti-Semitic incidents soared in May 2021 when tensions increased and violence broke out between Israel and Hamas, the report said. The ADL tracked a 141% increase in incidents that month over the same time in 2020.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO and national director, described the anti-Semitic activity that month as “shocking.”
“Jews were being attacked in the streets for no other reason than the fact that they were Jewish,” he said.
The ADL data show five incidents of harassment or vandalism in the greater Boca Raton area last year.
Last May, a group that included white supremacists protested a pro-Israel rally in the city, the Miami Herald and other media outlets have reported. They drove a white van covered with anti-Semitic hate messages, including “Hitler was right.” Ú
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