San Antonio area residents have reported several incidents of antisemitic flyers being left on lawns since a neo-Nazi group traveled through the area in October.
President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio Nammie Ichilov said in the past two months, there have been four incidents of flyers being found on the Northside and in Alamo Heights. All of the flyers belonged to the group that came through the area in October, described by the Anti-Defamation League as a loose network of online followers connected by their virulent antisemitism.
Related: Jewish communities in Austin and San Antonio targeted by neo-Nazi group
If you see these flyers in your neighborhood, Ichilov said the first thing to do is pick them up and take them out of circulation, and then alert local law enforcement. However, people should be careful about how they share their experience on social media.
"A lot of times, especially in today's world, people post to social media when things like this occur. We understand that they want to share their disgust with things like this when they occur. The only thing we ask is when they share these things on social media, that they make a conscious effort to not express the message that was expressed in the materials and to not give credence to the organization that distributed those flyers," Ichilov said.
He added one option is to black out the name of the organization and the hateful message or to take a picture from an angle that doesn't highlight their message.
"Because ultimately what these organizations want is exactly what is unfortunately what some people do with this which is perpetuate it through social media. They don't care if they're getting positive hits or negative hits as long as their message keeps getting circulated, then they consider it a success,” he said.
“So they'll come back and they'll do it again if they're getting any hits on social media on things like this."
Ichilov said he's grateful for the San Antonio community's support each time an incident like this occurs. One in four American Jews say they have experienced antisemitism in the last year, according to the American Jewish Committee.
