Bags of antisemitic flyers, suspected rat poison found in Chicago

Dozens of plastic bags containing “repulsive” antisemitic flyers and possible “rat poison” were found scattered around a Chicago neighborhood Monday — in the third disturbing incident this year.

A resident came across the hateful leaflets in the Lincoln Park area Monday morning and reached out to their local official. 

“This is not the first time our ward has seen incidents like this. To the people who are spreading these flyers, I have a clear message: you are committing acts of hate,” Timmy Knudsen, alderman for Chicago’s 43rd Ward, said in a statement.

“Your threats against the Jewish community are repulsive and vile, and will not be tolerated in our community.”

Chicago police confirmed they had recovered 84 clear zip lock bags containing “flyers and an unknown substance,” which were found on top of parked cars and in doorways.

“I saw the Star of David and it was just like my heart sank,” witness Arden Joy, who came across the flyers while walking her children to school, told CBS News. “And then I saw another one, and then another one – on each doorstep.”

Some of the leaflets featured the logo of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

The New York-based international Jewish NGO wrote on X that it was “aware and disgusted by” the flyers. It also expressed concern about “the presence of an unknown substance.”

ADL Midwest called on the Chicago Police Department to get to the bottom of the incident.

“Chicago residents continue to be targeted with antisemitic and white supremacist propaganda,” the organization wrote on X.  

Alderman Knudsen vowed to ensure the safety of the city’s Jewish community and shield it from those seeking to “spread hate and fear.”

This is at least the third time this year that antisemitic messages were discovered on Chicago’s’ North Side.

In early February, flyers were placed atop dozens of cars in the Lincoln Park area.

A month earlier, police received reports of up to 50 leaflets left on vehicles parked along North Magnolia Avenue.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson publicly addressed the latest antisemitic incident, which he condemned as a “wicked act.”

“Hate has no place in Chicago,” Johnson said in a statement. “The antisemitic fliers left on cars and at residences in Lincoln Park is a wicked act, and my administration will be working with the Chicago Police Department to investigate this matter and to hold any and all perpetrators accountable.”

State Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, decried the distribution of the flyers as “an egregious act of hate.”

“As a member of the Jewish community and a proud Chicagoan, I will not back down in the face of rising antisemitism and hatred in our city,” she said in a post on X.