A recently hired administrative coordinator in California was forced to resign from his municipal job after his supervisors learned that he ran an anti-Semitic website which lauded Adolf Hitler and blamed the Israeli government for the 9/11 attack on the New York Trade Center.

John Friend, 29, was hired three months ago by the Escondido city manager’s office for administrative work that included supervision of the support staff. Escondido is a small city north of San Diego.

City Manager Clay Phillips told the San Diego Union-Tribune, he was unaware of Friend’s virulent anti-Semitism until a reporter asked him about the new hire’s background. Friend, who said he was called in and given the option to step down or be fired, resigned on Sept. 9.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

A prolific blogger and contributor to several white supremacist publications, Friend told a San Diego reporter that he finds “inspiration and guidance from… white Christian patriots,” such as Hitler and his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.

On his website, Friend also claimed that the Holocaust was made up by the “Jewish-dominated media.”

In an email, Friend said he didn’t list any of his writings or website work on his resume or in his job interview, but neither did he try to conceal his views.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount