Police are investigating after antisemitic signs and flyers were found in Jefferson Park and suburban Elmhurst and La Grange Park over the weekend.
Antisemitic flyers were found in La Grange Park Saturday morning, according to police.
The flyers, “while not threatening in nature,” were political and from an antisemitic social media group, La Grange Park police said in a statement on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.
“The Village of La Grange Park supports and values an inclusive community and does not condone these actions nor the distribution of hate propaganda,” police said, adding that the same flyers were also distributed in Elmhurst.
La Grange Park police asked residents who discover any flyers near their homes to check their security cameras for any images of the people who left them there.
The flyers were left by the Goyim Defense League, an antisemitic group, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., said in a statement.
“This morning, I was alerted to antisemitic leaflets distributed at residences in my district. I condemn this disgusting display of antisemitism. My Jewish constituents deserve to live in safety and without fear of intimidation or violence,” Garcia said. “The leaflets draw on deeply rooted conspiracy theories about government influence by listing Jewish members of the Biden administration.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the GDL’s propaganda “casts aspersions on Jews and spreads antisemitic myths and conspiracy theories in hopes of turning Americans against Jewish people” to further their ultimate goal of expelling Jews from the country.
In Jefferson Park on the Northwest Side, Chicago police said notes were left on several vehicles Sunday morning.
About 8:30 a.m., officers who responded to a call in the 5400 block of West Wilson Avenue found cardboard signs with antisemitic messages on several parked vehicles, Chicago police said.
On Friday, several pro-Israel yard signs had been torn out and ripped apart in suburban Skokie. Footage captured by doorbell cameras showed three people stealing and ripping up the signs at about 3:30 a.m. Friday.
In Hickory Hills, police were investigating a hate crime after a Palestinian family in the southwest suburb received a letter threatening to “burn” them last week.
Lila Gaber, a Muslim Palestinian American, put a sign in her yard that reads “Free Palestine” after the conflict escalated between Israeli and Hamas forces last month, leading to thousands of civilian deaths.
She received a letter addressed to “resident” that read: “THIS IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NOT PALESTINE!!!!!!! REMOVE THE SIGN FROM THE LAWN OR B U R N.”
Hate crimes against Muslims, Arabs and Jews have risen drastically as tensions worsen in the Middle East. The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported more than 770 hate crimes nationwide targeting Muslims since Oct. 7.
In early October, a report released by the Anti-Defamation League detailed that racist propaganda and antisemitic acts more than doubled last year in Illinois.
The report, titled “Hate in the Prairie State,” provided a comprehensive list of radical forces targeting Illinois, including white supremacist groups, anti-LGBTQ+ zealots and adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which supports former President Donald Trump.
Antisemitic acts including assault, harassment and vandalism rose to their highest level in recent history in 2022, jumping 128% from the previous year, from 53 to 121. That was the seventh-largest statewide total in a year that saw “the highest-ever number of antisemitic incidents nationwide,” the ADL noted.
