Beverly Hills police investigating antisemitic fliers left at residents’ homes

As the sun rose on the first day of Hanukkah on Sunday morning, a Beverly Hills man awoke to find an antisemitic flier in his front yard.

He was one of several people who found the one-page documents in their front yards Sunday morning, the Beverly Hills Police Department said in a statement shared on social media. The department said it is investigating the fliers, which included “propaganda style hate speech related to the COVID pandemic and the Jewish people.”

“Police surveyed the area and discovered that the flyers, enclosed in plastic bags containing rice (for weight), were distributed to homes in several blocks in the northeast area of the city,” the statement said.

Police officers and city public works employees canvassed the neighborhood and collected fliers from people’s yards Sunday morning.

“Police are continuing to investigate and attempt to identify the persons responsible for this disturbing act,” the department said in the Sunday statement.

The Sunday incident is only the latest antisemitic incident in the Los Angeles area. In May, several people attacked diners outside a Westside sushi restaurant, shouting anti-Israel slogans and flying a Palestinian flag before escalating to punching and kicking. Two separate reports of antisemitic graffiti at West Hollywood businesses were made the week of New Year’s Day 2020. Many other antisemitic actions and crimes have taken place across the state in recent years.

In California, antisemitic incidents have risen by 40% over the last five years, Jeffrey Abrams, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles, said after the May attack. Brian Levin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, has said that in 2019, Jewish people were the “top target” of hate crimes in L.A., Chicago and New York.

The Beverly Hills Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment Sunday afternoon. The department encouraged anyone who has information about the incident to reach out to police at (310) 550-4951.