Chatham, MA – Police in Chatham are investigating the distribution of antisemitic flyers, according to a statement posted on Facebook Tuesday.
The flyers were found along Stage Harbor Road and Bridge Street inside plastic bags with rocks for weight. Police said they appeared to have been randomly dropped, or perhaps thrown from a vehicle. No specific person or location has been identified as the sole target, according to the statement.
A message on the bottom of the flyers claims that they were “distributed randomly without malicious intent.”
The investigation by Chatham police indicates that these specific flyers were distributed in other Massachusetts towns and in other states recently.
The flyers appear to be from the antisemitic group The Goyim Defense League. Police posted an edited image of a flyer on Facebook, which espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories about the media.
“The Chatham Police Department takes these types of incidents seriously and will exhaust all resources to identify those responsible,” the statement read.
The same hate group reportedly dropped similar flyers in Peabody earlier this month, according to The Boston Globe. In that incident, people also found flyers scattered on street curbs and sidewalks. The Peabody flyers were dropped close to the beginning of the Jewish holiday Shavuot, which celebrates the revelation of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Chatham police said that the group behind the flyers aims “to cast aspersions on Jews and spread antisemitic myths and conspiracy theories.”
Roadside flyer drops like those seen in Peabody and Chatham are a common tactic by the Goyim Defense League.
“It looks like it’s the Goyim Defense League, which is a network of antisemitic provocateurs,” Robert Trestan, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League in New England, told the Globe. “This is one of their action items… they go around and spread antisemitism through these flyers.”
