Jewish community members are rattled and annoyed after finding about a hundred anti-semitic fliers pinned to car windshields at the Lafayette BART Station. Kris Sanchez reports.
Jewish community members are rattled after finding about a hundred anti-Semitic fliers pinned to car windshields at the Lafayette BART Station.
The fliers, which refer to the Jewish community as "serpents" and advocate separating them from children, were found littering the ground and attached to cars Tuesday evening in several of BART's parking lots after 6:30 p.m.
The culprit appears to be the owner of a blog that targets individual members of the Jewish community in Lafayette, identifying them by name and categorizing them as "jew scum." The blogger posted on the site that his purpose is to point out "what Jewish cults have done to my country, my county and my family!" and to "brow beat 'em, flog 'em and harass 'em."
BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost told NBC Bay Area via email that there was nothing they could do about the fliers, because it's a First Amendment issue.
"Appellate court case law rules leaf-letting free speech material on windshields is allowable and we cannot prohibit it," Trost wrote.
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A police report has already been filed by one BART rider, a prominent member of the the Jewish community in the East Bay and a member of American Israel Public Affairs Committee, who said he saw a man in a Santa hat putting the fliers on his car at the Lafayette station about 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The BART rider, who asked to remain anonymous because he fears his name may be posted on the blog, said he approached the man delivering fliers. The BART rider provided a case number of the report to NBC Bay Area and Maloney's business card to verify the account.
"Hey buddy, you can't do that," the BART rider recalled telling the man in the Santa hat, who answered: "You f---ing Jew, you baby killer. I'm going to kill you."
Jewish community member Barbara Albin, who also reached out to BART police after seeing the fliers, said she feared for her family's safety and wondered why nothing could be done about the fliers.
"It really very upsetting" she said. "I believe in free speech, but this seems like hate speech. The fliers should be removed and the police should at least know who this person is. They're always telling people that if you see something, say something, but I tried to and I got nothing."
Contact Gillian Edevane at Gillian.Edevane@NBCUni.com.
