Hundreds of antisemitic flyers rattle Pittsburgh Jewish neighborhoods

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey issued a statement calling the flyers “reprehensible,” adding they “have no place in Pittsburgh… We will not stand for such hateful acts meant to intimidate our neighbors.”

By Jewish Breaking News

Residents of Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill and Shadyside neighborhoods awoke this weekend to find antisemitic propaganda strewn across their lawns and porches, reigniting trauma in a community still healing from the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, where 11 people were killed in 2018.

According to Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh officials, over 100 hate-filled flyers were distributed throughout predominantly Jewish areas on Sunday.

Each flyer was sealed inside a plastic sandwich bag weighted with corn kernels. One flyer claimed to expose a Jewish plan for world domination while another described the Talmud as satanic.

“What was surprising was how blatant they were this time. It’s almost like they were looking for attention,” said Shawn Brokos, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s community security director.

“There are multiple versions of this flyer, but done by the same nationally known white supremacist group. The flyers are in these Ziploc bags with kernels of corn, and they were thrown from a moving vehicle.”

Witnesses reported to local KDKA-TV seeing a light-colored SUV, which door camera footage later identified as possibly a tan Dodge Durango with Ohio license plates, cruising through the neighborhood where three to four individuals led by a red-haired male driver shouted antisemitic slurs.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey issued a statement calling the flyers “reprehensible,” adding they “have no place in Pittsburgh… We will not stand for such hateful acts meant to intimidate our neighbors.”

Gainey’s office has been in communication with Jewish Federation while Pittsburgh police and FBI pursue an active investigation.

Beyond Pittsburgh’s city limits, similar flyers were reportedly discovered Sunday in Peters Township, Washington County.

Flyers contained a web address for Goyim Defense League (GDL) and a QR code linking to their content. The Anti-Defamation League describes GDL as a “loose network of individuals connected by their virulent antisemitism” whose name purposefully mimics the ADL’s name.

Local officials report a troubling rise in antisemitism across Pittsburgh since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre against Israel.

Just last week, 24-year-old Talya Lubit pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiring to spray paint antisemitic graffiti on a Chabad synagogue in Squirrel Hill in July.