“GDL” founder Jon Minadeo is seen on the “Goyim TV” channel alongside an antisemitic caricature. Image: Screenshot

An Illinois local official has condemned the distribution of virulently antisemitic flyers in the town of Glenview on the outskirts of Chicago blaming the Russian invasion of Ukraine on a Jewish conspiracy.

Scott Britton, the Commissioner for Cook County, confirmed on Monday that flyers — which also pinned the COVID-19 pandemic on a “Jewish agenda” — had been placed in numerous driveways in the district.

“I am nauseated that someone took the time, during a deadly global pandemic, to create many multiples of these packages and deliver them to residents of the 14th District,” Britton said in a statement. “I condemn these anonymous letters on every level.”

Britton said he was coordinating with the Glenview Police Department, along with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, to investigate the flyers. “While I am not Jewish, I stand with Jews locally and everywhere. While I am not Ukrainian, I speak out against the war against them,” Britton said. “Hate has no home here.”

The flyers in Glenview bore the hallmarks of the so-called “Goyim Defense League” (GDL) — a California-based neo-Nazi group that has carried out a coast-to-coast campaigns during the pandemic involving flyer distribution and demonstrations pushing antisemitic COVID-19 conspiracy theories along with Holocaust denial.

During the last week, there has been renewed attention on the antics of the GDL’s founder Jon Minadeo, a 38-year-old resident of Petaluma who devotes himself to disseminating antisemitic propaganda.

Last week, an unnamed resident of Petaluma wrote to the city’s Mayor, Teresa Barrett, demanding that the authorities take action against Minadeo.

In a message to Barrett that was shared with local news outlet the Press Democrat, the resident said she was “quite concerned that this hate filled man is a ticking time bomb and am wondering if he is being monitored in Petaluma?”

She asked: “Are the police and city council aware that we have a Nazi hate group being nationalized all over the United States right from Petaluma?”

However, Barrett’s response emphasized that there was little local law enforcement could do beyond monitoring Minadeo.

“I also hope you are aware that without the actual evidence we cannot do more than be aware of him and condemn ALL acts of hate, no matter who is the source,” Barrett wrote.

Last week, Minadeo’s girlfriend, Kelly Johnson, was fired from two studios where she worked as a yoga instructor after the owner alleged that she supported Minadeo’s stridently antisemitic views.

While Minadeo insists that he does not incite violence, broadcasts on “Goyim TV” openly promote violence against Jews. Viewer comments posted on-screen have included an appeal to “gas every f**king one of these filthy pedovore [sic] rat Jews” and “who wants to kill jews [sic] right now?”, the Press Democrat reported.