Definition of anti-Semitism and anti-Semite
Definition of anti-Semitism and anti-SemiteiStock

Two anti-Semitic fliers that deny the Holocaust were posted at a Massachusetts synagogue, with reports of similar incidents at synagogues in two other states, JTA reported on Tuesday.

Police are investigating what the Anti-Defamation League described as a coordinated campaign by a national online white supremacist group.

The fliers at Temple Emanu-El in Marblehead, a town of nearly 20,000 with a sizable Jewish population on the state’s North Shore, were discovered Monday morning by a teacher at its religious school, the report said.

The printed posters, attributed to the Daily Stormer Book Club, refer to the Holocaust as “Fake News. The people that lied about soap and lampshades are lying about gas chambers and ovens.”

They were affixed to a “no parking” sign and the synagogue’s main entrance sign, the Jewish Journal reported.

Marblehead Police Chief Robert Picariello told the local media that his department is examining surveillance video and trying to determine exactly when the fliers were placed at the synagogue.

The ADL’s Center on Extremism is aware of similar incidents at synagogues in Washington state and outside of Houston, Texas, according to Robert Trestan, ADL New England’s regional director.

Massachusetts has suffered a number of anti-Semitic incidents in recent months. In March, at least 59 gravestones were vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti at the Hebrew Cemetery in Fall River.

In January, fliers referencing the Daily Stormer Book Club and reading “Why do Jews push pornography and degeneracy on our children” were distributed across the city of Newton.

More recently, a fire broke outside the suburban Boston home of a rabbi that serves at a Chabad center and is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

In 2018, the ADL reported that Massachusetts had a total of 144 anti-Semitic incidents. While down from the prior year, it was the second highest year on record.