NEW ORLEANS — A resident in the Bywater says he's shocked after finding some nasty flyers on his front stoop.
Watch closely, this is just after midnight Sunday, you see this man walking along Port Street, then all of a sudden you see them throw something.
Nat Lawrence Leichtman told Eyewitness News that he "Came home to find these little packets, just deranged antisemitic propaganda."
Antisemitic flyers, filled with rhetoric that's so hateful we won't show it on TV or on the web.
The flyers were placed in sandwich bags and thrown in front of people's houses; neighbors say there were several on their pathway. They say they wore gloves because they were worried this package could've been contaminated.
Lawerence Leichtman says he instantly reported the package to the anti-defamation league (ADL)
Lindsay Friedmann with ADL says two people in the neighborhood reported the flyers to them and that the agency informed NOPD, the FBI and the sheriff's office.
She says ADL are well aware of the group.
"They're telltale signs of an antisemitic group that we're incredibly familiar with," Friedmann said. "This is the first time for me I have seen the incident done by foot, usually it's done in a car. They put either pennies or corn kernels or rocks in the sandwich baggies, so they're able to throw them outside of car windows."
Last year ADL recorded 3,697 antisemitic incidents nationwide. A 36% increase from 2021 and the highest number on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents back in 1979.
Friedmann says the Jewish population in New Orleans isn't as big as other cities, she says this increasing hatred hits hard.
"Anywhere in the south when we see this it's deeply concerning because we're not very large so to be targeted, it's hurtful and intimidating," she said.
Both say they want one thing - justice.
"If law enforcement is able to catch the individual, and there are charges they're able to bring, they will also tack on a hate crime," Friedmann said.
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