Antisemitic flyers have been discovered in another San Diego County neighborhood. It's at least the third time similar flyers have been littered in local communities this year.
The most recent incident happened over the weekend along Ballinger Avenue in San Carlos. Residents woke up to find flyers disguised as Anti-Defamation League (ADL) pamphlets that contained hateful messages beneath the fold.
"It was on our driveway on Saturday, late morning we found it," Hayley Chambine said.
Chambine's neighbor, Stephanie Benjamini, found them, too.
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“We love it here, which is why it was disappointing to see it happen," Benjamini said.
Benjamini and her husband Grady Gumner walked the neighborhood and collected all they could.
“To see that was really upsetting," Gumner said. "To be raising a Jewish daughter, it was really upsetting and scary to think that that person was in our neighborhood right at our front doorstep.”
This is the second time the San Carlos neighborhood has been targeted by this campaign. This summer, similar flyers showed up in San Carlos, Allied Gardens, Del Cerro and reportedly in La Mesa.
The good news is, that someone in the neighborhood appears to be fighting flyers with flyers. Shortly after the antisemitic handbills were distributed, sheets titled “How to create kindness in your world" were passed around, too. They had 13 separate steps you can take, including acts of compassion, active listening and mentorship.
"It’s nice to see there are people in the neighborhood, in the community who have the opposite feeling and spread that kindness," Chambine said.
San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo is working on a hate littering ordinance. If passed, the distribution of materials like the ones Chambine and Benjamini found could lead to a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or six months in jail.
"What next?" Benjamini wondered. "Yeah, it is a flyer now, in some ways harmless, but in other ways, what will other people feel emboldened to do?"
Benjamini and her husband agree: the war between Israel and Hamas awakened a sleeping hostility.
"It’s part of just a larger anti-Semitic movement where, these kind of behaviors, people feel emboldened to speak out against Jews," Gumner said.
The war between Israel and Hamas is being fought overseas, the war of words, however, is further reaching.
The leaflets were reported to the ADL and San Diego Police Department.
In a statement, the ADL said they've received reports of the flyers perpetuating "appalling and hateful conspiracy theories, which have no place in our communities." They also said they support local authorities in exploring "legislative solutions to address the issue."
More than 500 antisemitic acts targeting Jewish people, including assault, vandalism and harassment, were committed in California last year, an increase of more than 40% from 2021, underscoring a proliferation of hate crimes and extremism in the state, according to a report released by the Anti-Defamation League.
