Police Investigate Anti-Semitic Flyers Left Around Valley Schools

WOODLAND HILLS, CA — A series of anti-Semitic flyers plastered around West Valley schools this week have got the attention of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The hateful flyers began showing up around El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills, and another one along the perimeter of Nestle Avenue Charter Elementary School Monday. Other locations for the hate flyers have included areas near Calabasas High School and the Westfield Topanga shopping center. They included swastikas and offensive messages equating Nazism with Zionism and the state of Israel, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Police are investigating multiple anti-Semitic flyers found plastered near West Valley schools earlier this week, and they urge anyone with information to contact investigators.

The flyers equate the swastika and the Star of David as "a hate symbol."

One flyer included a accused a "Rothschild-led Jewish Zionist armed militia of the murders of women and children."

Another wrote, "What's the difference between crackheads and Jews?"

"LAPD is aware of several offensive posters that were found at different locations in the San Fernando Valley," said the LAPD media relations division in a statement. "Detectives from our West Valley and Topanga divisions are handling this as a hate incident and are encouraging anyone who may have information about this to contact investigators.*

Nestle Elementary Principal Cheryl Gray-Sortino made a call to parents Monday informing them of "an incident that occurred today, when an anti- Semitic message was posted near the kindergarten gate," adding that extra patrols were brought to the campus Tuesday.

"We are deeply disturbed by the recent incident at Nestle Elementary School," LAUSD spokeswoman Barbara Jones said Thursday morning. "Los Angeles Unified condemns acts of anti-Semitism and any other symbols of hate. We remain committed to educating students about cultural and religious diversity and the important values tolerance and inclusion."

The incident coincided with a national discussion of a rise in anti- Semitic incidents at schools and colleges around the country, nearly doubling in 2017 from 2016, according to data collected by the Anti-Defamation League. ADL logged 457 anti-Semitic incidents in non-Jewish schools in 2017, up from 235 in 2016 and 114 in 2015. K-12 schools also surpassed public areas as the places with the most reported incidents, according to the Daily News.

Earlier this month, teens in Newport Beach stirred national outrage when they tweeted a photo of a beer pong game in the shape of a swastika with the players making Nazi salutes. In an effort to turn the hateful gesture into a teaching moment, community leaders organized a sit down with some of the teens involved and Eva Schloss, a Holocaust survivor and the stepsister of Anne Frank. Some of the teens involved in that incident made heartfelt public apologies while others refused.

If you have information, call Topanga or West Valley LAPD divisions at (818) 756-4820 or (818) 374-7730.

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City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.