West Brookfield residents report antisemitic material distributed in town

“They were distributed on the western section of the town and it didn’t appear that specific houses were targeted...”

WEST BROOKFIELD - Anti-Semitic rhetoric that alleges that the country’s Jewish community is responsible for the “COVID agenda” was randomly distributed to a small stretch of homes and businesses in the western section of town.

Police Chief Nathan Hagglund said he received multiple reports Tuesday morning of plastic bags filled with white rice and a printed flyer expressing “offensive content targeting the Jewish community,” being found in the front of homes and businesses.

The flyer alleges that every aspect of the “COVID agenda” is Jewish, Hagglund said Wednesday.

In addition, the flyer listed names of nationally known people of the Jewish faith. The content of the message was the same in each bag, Hagglund said.

After fielding the call from concerned citizens, Hagglund said he and Fire Chief Richard A. Lapierre Jr. collected up to 20 to 22 bags with the unsolicited material. “We’ve gotten a call that it was a Ziploc with an all-white substance in it,” Hagglund said. “At first, we thought it could be a hazardous material incident. When we decided that it’s not physically harmful, we gathered as many as we could but I’m pretty sure we didn’t get them all.”

The clear sandwich bags were mostly left at the end of residential and businesses’ driveways on West Main Street, Hagglund said. It is believed the rice was used solely to weigh the bags down, he said. Hagglund said he believes that no one was targeted.

“They were distributed on the western section of the town and it didn’t appear that specific houses were targeted,” Hagglund said. “In fact, the material said it was being randomly distributed…with no malicious intent.”

In a press release, Hagglund said, “We understand that such actions can be deeply distressing and cause concerns among residents. While the content may be protected by free speech laws, we realize the impact it can have on those affected.”

At first, Hagglund said he wrestled with how best to share information with the public. “The question was really do you give the distributors a forum and make the statement or do you not,” Hagglund said. “There’s only 3,800 people in town. That’s why we really wanted to get ahead of it. And, I think, if you stay silent that you’re almost accepting of their articles. So I thought it was far more important to get the information out.”

Hagglund said he reached out to the Anti-Defamation League Tuesday and they told him that they suspect the Goyim Defense League, an antisemitic hate group, as distributing the material. “Goyim” is a disparaging Yiddish and Hebrew word for a person who is not Jewish.

Hagglund encourages residents to come forward if they encounter similar incidents or have information “that could aid in our understanding of the situation.”

Hagglund said he doesn’t know if any other community has been targeted in the area.