(COBB COUNTY, Ga.) — There’s been an increase in security over at Chabad of Cobb, a synagogue in eastern Cobb County, after neo-Nazis demonstrated by waving flags and chanting slogans outside on the sidewalk.

“We are beyond appalled by what so many of us saw the other day,” said Rabbi Daniel Dorsch of Congregation Etz Chaim, also in East Cobb.

State Sen. John Albers, whose district covers parts of Cherokee and Fulton County, told WSB’s Sandra Parrish that “I believe in my heart, and I certainly hope, that this is a smaller group of isolated, evil people, who are seeking to do wrong.”

Sen. Albers was a co-sponsor on a bill that would define antisemitism in state law, helping prosecutors with hate crimes. The bill stalled in the Senate and did not pass.

“This is part of a disturbing trend that we have seen on the rise for over five years now. From 2021 to 2022, we saw more than 60% increase in antisemitic incidents in the state of Georgia. Nationally, we are seeing antisemitic incidents at an all-time record high in 2022,” said Anti-Defamation League Southeast Regional Director Eytan Davidson.

Demonstrators also picketed outside Temple Beth Israel in Macon, Georgia, with similar iconography and slogans on Friday night.

It’s not clear right now if the two rallies were coordinated, but they’re both part of a worrying uptick in antisemitic rhetoric across the state. Within the last year, multiple neighborhoods in metro Atlanta have been hit with far-right flyers and propaganda packages, demonizing Judaism and Jewish people.

State leaders have begun to weigh in on the weekend’s neo-Nazi rallies, saying:

WSB reporter Sandra Parrish contributed to reporting for this story.

©2023 Cox Media Group