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

President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said he is “more of a Jew” than George Soros, a major Democratic donor and Holocaust survivor.

Giuliani claimed in a New York Magazine interview published Monday that former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was “controlled” by Soros.

“He put all four ambassadors there,” Giuliani reportedly said. “And he’s employing the FBI agents.”

The attorney also called the billionaire an “enemy of Israel” and a “horrible human being.”

“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.”

NBC News followed up with Giuliani to ask about the comments, to which he responded, “I’m more Jewish than half my friends.”

Laura Silber, a spokesperson for Soros’s Open Society Foundations, said on Twitter that Giuliani’s comments were “contemptible.”

“Giuliani’s remarks about George Soros’ Jewishness as reported by @Olivianuzzi are contemptible – and reflect his toxic campaign of misinformation and falsehoods aimed at distracting from the gravity of the charges facing the President,” she tweeted.

Giuliani’s remarks about George Soros’ Jewishness as reported by @Olivianuzzi are contemptible – and reflect his toxic campaign of misinformation and falsehoods aimed at distracting from the gravity of the charges facing the President. https://t.co/95A4UZgEAn

— Laura Silber (@laurasilber) December 24, 2019

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement to The Hill that Giuliani’s comments were “baffling and offensive.”

He also requested the attorney apologize and take back his comments.

“Let’s be crystal clear: Mr. Giuliani is not the arbiter of who is Jewish and who is not, or what is anti-Semitic and what is not,” he said. “For decades, George Soros’ philanthropy has been used as fodder for outsized anti-Semitic conspiracy theories insisting on Jewish control and manipulation of countries and global events.”

Opposing Soros isn’t what’s #antiSemitic.

Saying that he controls ambassadors, employs FBI agents and isn’t “Jewish enough” to be demonized is.

Our experts explain the #antiSemitism behind Soros conspiracies: https://t.co/rK4ZXecMxn https://t.co/uFvsRvB2Ys

— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) December 23, 2019

Giuliani also went after federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, calling them “assholes” if they are investigating him.

–This report was updated on Dec. 24 at 8:41 a.m.