(JTA) — A neo-Nazi website announced an armed march by white supremacists in an effort to harass a Montana Jewish community.
The web graphic published Friday on the Daily Stormer about the march in Whitefish was published over a picture of the entrance to Auschwitz and included a yellow Star of David with the word “Jude” printed in it.
Whitefish is home to white supremacist leader Richard Spencer, president of the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist think tank. Last month, he spoke at a white supremacist event in Washington, D.C., celebrating President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in which Spencer said “Hail Trump!” and was greeted by Nazi salutes.
The Daily Stormer published a blog post earlier in the month calling for followers to “take action” against Jews in Whitefish by writing and calling them with anti-Semitic messages. The post claimed that Jewish residents were “threatening” the business run by Spencer’s mother’s in the town.
The post included the names, phone numbers and addresses of Jewish Whitefish residents, as well as their photos emblazoned with yellow stars. It also showed the Twitter handle and photo of a child. Along with using a number of anti-Semitic slurs, the post warned readers against using “violence or threats of violence or anything close to that.”
A local rabbi last week encouraged people to send notes of sympathy to the Whitefish Jewish community and to put a menorah in their windows in solidarity, the ADL said in a statement issued Friday.
In response, Andrew Anglin, who runs the Daily Stormer site, told his followers to put Nazi flags in their windows and Nazi swastikas on their cars, homes and businesses. He also called on his followers to send hateful messages to two anti-hate organizations, according to the ADL.
The local government of Whitefish, which has 6,000 full-time residents, has rejected Spencer’s ideas.
“Not only is Anglin harassing the Jewish community of Whitefish, he is at the same time exploiting the situation there to promote anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jewish power and control,” the ADL said. “He alleges that Jews have targeted white supremacists and anti-Semites but now he is somehow turning the tables on them.”
The ADL said it has been in regular contact with the Whitefish Jews singled out by Anglin as well as law enforcement.
