Giuliani says he’s “more of a Jew” than George Soros

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, said in an interview this week that he is “more of a Jew” than philanthropist George Soros, who was born Jewish in Hungary and survived the Holocaust. Guiliani, who is Italian American and was raised Roman Catholic, also called Soros an “enemy of Israel.”

In a rant-filled interview with New York Magazine, Giuliani accused Soros of “controlling” Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who testified in the impeachment hearings that she had been forced out of her job by Giuliani. Giuliani recently admitted he worked to push out Yovanovitch, calling her a problem for the administration. 

“He [Soros] put all four ambassadors there,” he told reporter Olivia Nuzzi. “And he’s employing the FBI agents.”

“Don’t tell me I’m anti-Semitic if I oppose him,” he continued. “Soros is hardly a Jew. I’m more of a Jew than Soros is. I probably know more about — he doesn’t go to church, he doesn’t go to religion — synagogue. He doesn’t belong to a synagogue, he doesn’t support Israel, he’s an enemy of Israel. He’s elected eight anarchist DA’s in the United States.”

“He’s a horrible human being,” Guiliani concluded. 

Soros was 13 years old when Nazi Germany occupied his native Hungary. He survived by posing as a Christian for several years, eventually emigrating to England after the end of the war to study at the London School of Economics. 

Soros, 89, is now among the 100 richest people in the world, with an estimated net worth of more than $8 billion. He has donated much of the fortune he earned working in finance his philanthropic organization, Open Society Foundations, which financially supports democracy and human rights causes in more than 100 countries. He also donates to liberal causes and Democratic politicians in the U.S.

Conspiracy theories surrounding Soros have festered for decades, focused around a central theme — that he is secretly pulling the strings of nations and financial markets, echoing deeply anti-Semitic theories about Jews controlling the world. 

Laura Silber, chief communications officer for the Open Society Foundations, called the remarks “contemptible” and said they reflect Giuliani’s “toxic campaign of misinformation and falsehoods — aimed at distracting from the gravity of the charges facing the President.”

A number of other organizations called out Giuliani’s comments as offensive. “No, Mayor, you’re not “more of a Jew than Soros,” the American Jewish Committee tweeted Monday. “You’re entitled to your views, and to denouncing his. But it’s offensive to deny anyone’s faith, and worse to endorse classically antisemitic conspiracy theories.”

The head of the Anti-Defamation League tweeted that opposing Soros isn’t anti-Semitic but “saying he controls ambassadors, employs FBI agents and isn’t ‘Jewish enough'” is.

Giuliani’s theories have been echoed by Mr. Trump, who supported the idea that Soros paid Central Americans to travel to the U.S. last year as part of a “migrant caravan.” Fiona Hill, a former White House national security aide, said during the impeachment hearings last month that the attacks on Soros are “the longest-running anti-Semitic trope that we have in history.”