- International Jewish advocacy group the Anti-Defamation League criticized comments made by Rudy Giuliani about billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
- Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, said Soros, who is a holocaust survivor, is "hardly a Jew" and said that he, a Roman Catholic, is "more of a Jew."
- Giuliani also claimed that Soros "controlled" the former US ambassador to Ukraine, repeating earlier unfounded allegations that the billionaire was backing the impeachment efforts against Trump.
- The ADL's CEO said that Giuliani "should apologize and retract his comments immediately, unless he seeks to dog whistle to hardcore anti-Semites and white supremacists who believe this garbage."
- Giuliani stood by his comments.
- The organization also noted: "Soros' philanthropy has been used as fodder for outsized anti-Semitic conspiracy theories insisting there exists Jewish control and manipulation of countries and global events."
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A major Jewish group slammed President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for saying billionaire George Soros, who survived the Holocaust, is "hardly a Jew."
The Anti-Defamation League, a US-based international Jewish group that fights against anti-Semitism, said that Giuliani's comments could serve as a dog-whistle to anti-Semites.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, framed Giuliani's comments in light of a host of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Soros that are popular in the far-right in an interview with The Daily Beast.
"For decades, George Soros' philanthropy has been used as fodder for outsized anti-Semitic conspiracy theories insisting there exists Jewish control and manipulation of countries and global events."
"Mr. Giuliani should apologize and retract his comments immediately, unless he seeks to dog whistle to hardcore anti-Semites and white supremacists who believe this garbage."
Giuliani, who is Roman Catholic and not Jewish, had told New York magazine in an interview that he's "more of a Jew" than Soros.
"Don't tell me I'm anti-Semitic if I oppose him," Giuliani then said. "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 DAs in the United States. He's a horrible human being."
Soros, who is also a philanthropist and Democratic activist, is at the center of multiple, far-right conspiracy theories that allege he controls the American media and has an outsized political influence. Many brand these theories as anti-Semitic for promoting the world view that Jewish people secretly control many of the world's institutions.
The ADL explained the theories in a blog post:
"Hungarian Jewish billionaire, philanthropist and Holocaust survivor George Soros is widely recognized for funding progressive political and social causes, usually through grants made by his Open Society Foundations. As a result, Soros has become a lightning rod for conservative and right-wing groups who object to his funding of liberal causes.
"In far-right circles worldwide, Soros' philanthropy often is recast as fodder for outsized conspiracy theories, including claims that he masterminds specific global plots or manipulates particular events to further his goals. Many of those conspiracy theories employ longstanding anti-Semitic myths, particularly the notion that rich and powerful Jews work behind the scenes, plotting to control countries and manipulate global events."
The ADL also wrote that: "In the United States, Soros long has been a favored target of the so-called alt right and other right-wing extremists. Their online echo chambers reverberate with conspiracies about Soros, accusing him of attempting to perpetrate "white genocide" and push his own malevolent agenda."
And Greenblatt tweeted on Monday: "Opposing Soros isn't what's #antiSemitic. Saying that he controls ambassadors, employs FBI agents and isn't 'Jewish enough' to be demonized is."
Soros lived through the Nazi occupation of Hungary, where many Jews were put into concentration camps, and survived after his family got forged identification papers. He moved to London, and then to the US.
Giuliani had also claimed that Soros "controlled" Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine: "He put all four ambassadors there. And he's employing the FBI agents."
But Giuliani defended his comments to NBC News, texting its journalists: "I'm more Jewish than half my friends."
Giuliani has previously said without any evidence that people involved with Soros were trying to fake evidence to aid the impeachment campaign against Trump, which is based on Trump's dealings with Ukraine.
Laura Silber, a spokeswoman for Soros' philanthropy network, Open Society Foundations, told NBC News in an interview last month in response to these comments: "The anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and false allegations espoused by Rudolph Giuliani and his cronies are aimed at fomenting hatred, undermining democracy, as well as distracting from the impeachment process and the critically important national security and constitutional questions before Congress."
Donald Trump's son, Donald Jnr, previously retweeted a tweet that called Soros a "Nazi."
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