Rudy Giuliani Asks Not To Be Called Anti-Semitic Right Before Saying, “I'm More of a Jew Than [George] Soros”

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi in an interview published Monday that he was more Jewish than billionaire George Soros—who lost family in the Holocaust—and that Soros was a “horrible human being.”

“Don’t tell me I’m anti-Semitic if I oppose him,” Giuliani said. “Soros is hardly a Jew. I’m more of a Jew than Soros is.”

Giuliani, currently the personal attorney of President Donald Trump, made the comments during an afternoon with Nuzzi on Sunday, December 8. The pair drove around New York City, stopping at the Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side for Bloody Marys, and discussed a number of issues including the former mayor’s business dealings in Ukraine, which are under investigation. 

“If they think I committed a crime, they’re out of their minds,” said Giuliani. “I’ve been doing this for 50 years. I know how not to commit crimes.”

It was the topic of Soros, however, that got the mayor talking. 

According to Nuzzi:

As we sped uptown, he spoke in monologue about the scandal he co-created, weaving one made-up talking point into another and another. He said former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, whom he calls Santa Maria Yovanovitch, is “controlled by” George Soros. “He put all four ambassadors there. And he’s employing the FBI agents.” I told him he sounded crazy, but he insisted he wasn’t.

“Don’t tell me I’m anti-Semitic if I oppose him,” he 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.”

That remarkable passage spurred a number of observers to note Giuliani’s comments were overtly anti-Semitic.

“Giuliani arguing that he is ‘more of a Jew’ than a literal Holocaust survivor is the logical conclusion of Trumpist Jews’ argument that liberal and left wing Jews (the majority of American Jews!) are not really Jewish,” tweeted Atlantic writer Adam Serwer.

Other critics wondered what kind of media coverage Giuliani’s comments would receive.

“Has Rudy Giuliani lost his mind?” wondered former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti.

Miram Elder, reporter for BuzzFeed News, summed up the mayor’s comments by citing the reason for the season. 

“Happy Hanukkah!” Elder tweeted.