Source: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com, November 15th 2000

Anti-Jew Fliers Left in 2 Areas of Tempe

David Proffitt

Tempe police said Tuesday that whoever threw anti-Semitic pamphlets on to lawns and cars in two northwest Tempe neighborhoods Sunday acted within the law.

Sgt. Randy Fougner, Tempe police spokesman, said putting fliers on private property isn't illegal unless they contain direct threats or they're accompanied by "an overt act - destroying property or attacking someone."

Jonathan Levenson, a Tempe High School senior who picked up 200 to 300 of the tightly rolled yellow pamphlets Monday and turned them over to police, said he is disappointed that police can't do more. He hopes police find out who's behind the fliers so they can determine if they're dangerous.

"I'm trying not to let (the fliers) affect me that much," he said. "That's what they want, and I'm not going to give them that."

Levenson, 19, picked up a couple of the fliers in his front yard Monday morning, but didn't read them until he got to school.

"My first reaction was just to wonder who would put this out and why," he said.

But when he got out of class a few hours later, he drove through the area and picked up hundreds of pamphlets.

"I'm just really surprised it happened here," Levenson said of the neighborhoods between University Drive and Apache Boulevard, Wilson Street and Priest Road. "This area's so ethnically diverse."

The fliers were signed by the "American Revolutionary Nationalist Nucleus" and called, among other things, for an end to diplomatic relations with Israel and cutting off U.S. foreign aid to that country. They also said that the Holocaust didn't happen. "There is no evidence of the mass deportation of Jews or any other people (from European cities)," the authors wrote.

Rich Kaspar, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said that he has never heard of the group that takes credit for the fliers, and suspects that they're the work of a couple individuals "spouting off some ugly rhetoric."

But the fliers don't constitute a hate crime, he said, and as much as others might disagree with the group's statements, putting their fliers on cars or front lawns is still protected by the First Amendment.

"Until we find out who's behind this and whether they pose a real threat to the community, . . . we're not sounding the alarm," Kaspar said.

Reach the reporter at david.proffitt@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-7739.