Fairfax County, VA – Fairfax County police are trying to find out who left antisemitic flyers in a neighborhood near Wolf Trap.
Police said at least four or five of the flyers were left in and around driveways, and there may be more they are not aware of yet. They said the flyers were found early Friday morning and likely left in the overnight hours.
7News observed one of the flyers. It was inside a clear zip-lock bag that also had dry rice in it.
The flyer seemed to be using statistics to criticize U.S. support for Israel on one side, while on the other it had an image of Uncle Sam with an antisemitic message. The flyer also had a link to a website with rows and rows of extremely antisemitic messages.
“We take these things very seriously,” said Major Brian Ruck, a Patrol Bureau Commander with Fairfax County Police. “Any time we get a report like this our officers will respond en masse to make sure that we don’t have a crime, and to try to calm the community down.”
Ruck said it is possible, under Virginia code, they will not be able to charge whoever left the flyers with a crime. However, the leaving of the flyers is considered a bias incident and they want to know who did it.
Although this is not the first time Fairfax County Police say they’ve seen something like this, it comes at a time of heightened concern by Jewish people worldwide following last weekend’s terrorist attacks in Israel.
“We’ve enhanced our patrols around houses of worship, specifically Jewish houses of worship, as well as other Jewish institutions and schools,” Ruck said.
7News researched and found there have been a number of other incidents involving antisemitic flyers in bags with rice throughout the country – from Montgomery County in Maryland to Denver to Beverly Hills to West Brookfield, Massachusetts.
