Florida Sees Surge of Antisemitic Incidents in Recent Months, as Neo-Nazi GDL Leader Arrives in State

Recent months have seen a disturbing series of antisemitic incidents in Florida, including the projection of hateful images and words on prominent buildings in several cities across the Sunshine State.

This trend — including 17 incidents in total since October — has been monitored by the CAM Antisemitism Research Center as part of its mission of tracking contemporary manifestations of Jew-hatred worldwide.

Just in the last week alone, the CSX building in Jacksonville and the AT&T building in West Palm Beach were illuminated with Nazi symbols, while conspiratorial flyers were left outside homes in Boca Raton.

Also in Boca Raton, on the campus of Florida Atlantic University, a banner reading “#YeIsRight” — a reference to disgraced U.S. rapper Kanye “Ye” West, who drew widespread rebuke for a slew of antisemitic rhetoric this past fall — was displayed at a student club fair.

On New Year’s Eve, the phrase “Vax the Jews” was projected on on an office building in Orlando, and in late October the statement “Kanye is right about the Jews!” appeared on the exterior of TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville after a high-profile rivalry game between the University of Florida and University of Georgia football teams.

CAM also monitored antisemitic graffiti incidents in Miami, Orlando, Weston, Jacksonville Beach, Tamarac, Cooper City, and Palm City, and flyering incidents in St. Petersburg, Gulfport, and West Orange County.

Furthermore, a rabbi was verbally harassed at a Miami Beach hotel.

The surge of antisemitic incidents on Florida coincided with the arrival in the state of Jon Minadeo, head of the neo-Nazi Goyim Defense League (GDL), who relocated there from California in December.

Over the past year and a half, the GDL has been responsible for a nationwide flyering campaign promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories, including blaming Jews for the Covid-19 pandemic, among other provocative stunts, such as the unfurling of antisemitic banners on highway overpasses in Texas and California.

GDL flyers have featured statements such as “Every single aspect of the Covid agenda is Jewish,” as well as lists of names of Jewish health officials said to be “celebrating their role in Covid.

Other GDL flyers have said, “Every single aspect of gun control is Jewish,” and “Antifa is a Jewish militia,” among other baseless claims.

The flyers are often left in plastic bags weighed down by small rocks outside homes in residential areas.