Peabody Mayor: 'Our Community Will Not Tolerate These Acts Of Hate'

PEABODY, MA — Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt said police notified the Anti-Defamation League and that their investigation will continue after pamphlets with antisemitic rhetoric were placed on the lawns of several West Peabody homes late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

"Our community simply will not tolerate these acts of hate and we are united in our efforts to end the scourge of antisemitism once and for all," Bettencourt said in a statement to Patch.

The pamphlets were said to contain rhetoric linking the COVID-19 health crisis to a Jewish conspiracy.

The pamphlets were placed in the neighborhood and were discovered at the homes on Saturday morning.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)