Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Join the 2% of readers!SUPPORT OUR WORK!
Fast Forward

‘Jews Must Be Stopped’: California GOP Congressional Candidate Robocall

Robocalls in support of California congressional candidate John Fitzgerald assert that Jews are taking over the world and ‘must be stopped.’

Robert Gammon, business development director for Telegraph Media, tweeted Tuesday that he received one of the calls from Fitzgerald, the GOP candidate for the 11th district. He said it was “easily the most racist political ad I’ve ever come across in the Bay Area.”

Fitzgerald openly denies the Holocaust. His campaign website includes false claims that 9% of U.S. government officials are dual citizens of Israel and that Jews played a “prominent role” in the African slave trade, and celebrates a “courageous” elderly German woman who was sentenced to two years in prison for denying the Holocaust.

“Why is the holocaust the ONLY historical issue that cannot be questioned without fear of fines and/or imprisonment in eighteen countries – and counting – throughout the world?” Fitzgerald wrote on May 16.

He won 24.8% percent of the vote to finish second in California’s “jungle” primary, in which the top two candidate from either party advance to the general election. He will face Democratic incumbent Rep. Mark DeSaulnier in November in the East Bay district, which Hillary Clinton carried by a hefty 47-point margin.

The state GOP says it is bound by its bylaws to endorse Fitzgerald, even though it says it denounces his views.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

Are you one of our 2%?

Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story.

But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses  —  take months of research and fact-checking. All while we keep you informed of what you need to know each day.

Don’t just read the Forward — invest in it. Support our work today!

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Forward Publisher & CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.