San Francisco Police Investigate Antisemitic Flyers Blaming Jewish People for Covid in Pacific Heights
Police are looking into flyers falsely accusing Jewish people of causing the pandemic that turned up in Pacific Heights, in a pattern matching material spread by the Goyim Defense League elsewhere in the country.
By Mei Ling ·
San Francisco police are investigating after flyers containing antisemitic claims, including the false assertion that Jewish people caused the Covid pandemic, were left in the city's Pacific Heights neighborhood over the weekend.
A resident came across the flyers along Pacific Avenue between Baker and Scott streets. That person reported the discovery to the SFPD tip line and also described it in a post on Nextdoor. A separate couple found similar material on Union Street, where the flyers had been placed inside sandwich bags and weighted down with rice. They shared what they found with NBC Bay Area.
The flyers resemble those distributed in recent months by the Goyim Defense League in other parts of the country, among them Southern California, Texas and Florida. The Anti-Defamation League has profiled the group and named its leader as Jon Minadeo, who lives in Petaluma.
The Daily Beast recently reported that Minadeo, who describes himself as an actor and screenwriter, live-streamed the burning of a swastika in Austin last November. That event occurred hours after a fire was set at a local synagogue. Minadeo has denied any connection to the arson.
According to the ADL, Minadeo has spread antisemitic propaganda that wrongly blames Jewish people for the Covid-19 pandemic and the September 11 attacks, along with other conspiracy theories. The organization says members of the group have carried out tours and street actions to circulate these falsehoods since late 2019.
The Washington Post reported that comparable flyers were handed out Sunday night in parts of Miami Beach and a neighboring city, in what appears to be a coordinated campaign.
District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani criticized the racist literature on Twitter and called for an investigation.
In a statement, the San Francisco Police Department said officers from Northern Station received reports on January 23, 2022, of suspicious flyers in Pacific Heights. Officers located multiple flyers containing anti-Semitic language, collected them, canvassed the scene for further evidence and wrote an incident report.
The department's Special Investigations Division is handling the case, and no arrests have been made. Police ask anyone with information to call 415-575-4444, or to text a tip to TIP411 with a message beginning with "SFPD."
Source: The San Francisco Standard
