A group of Neo-Nazi’s brandished swastika flags and other antisemitic propaganda outside multiple Georgia synagogues over the weekend.
Several members of the hate group Goyim Defense League were pictured outside Chabad Lubavitch of Cobb County in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta Saturday.
The disturbing protest was led by the group’s leader Jon Minadeo II — a day after he was charged with disorderly conduct and public disturbance in front of Temple Beth Israel in Macon, WMAZ-TV reported.
“This was the most frightening thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Chabad of Cobb member Stewart Levy told WSB-TV.
“I am shocked, absolutely shocked to see this here. When I see the amount of ignorance out there and some of the truths that they are promoting, it is just frightening the level of inaccurate knowledge that there is.”
Minadeo was arrested the day earlier in Macon after he continued shouting obscenities through a bullhorn even though authorities has asked him to stop, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
He was released from the Bibb County jail Saturday and apparently headed straight to Cobb, the newspaper said.
The displays of hate in Macon had prompted hundreds of people to gather at Temple Beth Israel Saturday to show their solidarity with the Jewish community, far outnumbering the ten or so people behind the hateful demonstration, according to The Telegraph.
“I knew it wasn’t people in Macon-Bibb, because the Christians, Jews and various other religions have had an extremely peaceful coexistence in this town forever,” said Mike Kaplan, whose family has attended the house of worship for five generations.
“This congregation was established in 1859, and we’ve never had this happen. We’re more grateful for the response than we are saddened by the actions of these few people who came from out of town and brought hate to Macon,” added Kaplan, who is also the chair of the county election board.
The Peach Tree State tour of hate had started earlier Friday in the city of Warner Robins, where residents woke up to antisemitic fliers in plastic bags weighed down by pellets that some residents feared were poisonous, according to the station.
We actually had one in the driveway, and one in front of our house at the mailbox,” Tresa Wilson told the outlet. Her neighbor was on the phone with the police and had warned her not to touch the hateful literature.
“The first instinct was, ‘What about kids? What about animals?’ If this is some kind of poison, they could easily get a hold of it,” Tresa’s husband Joshua Wilson said.
The incidents prompted Jewish leaders to share pictures of the hateful display in front of Chabad of Cobb on social media in the hopes of publicly shaming the protestors, who had maintained they were exercising their First Amendment rights.
“This is part of a disturbing trend that we have seen on the rise for over five years now. From 2021 to 2022, we saw more than 60% increase in antisemitic incidents in the state of Georgia. Nationally, we are seeing antisemitic incidents at an all-time record high in 2022,” Anti-Defamation League Southeast Regional Director Eytan Davidson WSB-TV.
The ADL has warned the Goyim Defense League is a “network of individuals connected by their virulent antisemitism,” adding that their moniker is an attempt to parody the ADL.
The Holocaust deniers spread conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the media, economy and government as well as disparaging them as child molesters, the ADL says.
The GDL made headlines last year when they hung a banner over a Los Angeles freeway in support of Kanye West, who was labeled 2022’s Antisemite of the Year by the group StopAntisemitism.
Source: New York Post
