Rep. George Santos, who has by turns mentioned he’s Jewish, “Jew-ish” and never Jewish, delivered remarks on the Home ground recognizing the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Friday.
“Let this present day function reminder that we should honor the victims and survivors,” Santos mentioned in a minute-long speech on Holocaust Remembrance Day. “We should additionally pay tribute to the liberators who rescued hundreds of thousands of individuals.”
Santos, a truth-challenged Lengthy Island Republican who has made closely questioned claims that he’s the descendent of Holocaust refugees, didn’t point out his personal ancestors in his remarks.
He did acknowledge a staffer’s grandmother, who he mentioned is a 93-year-old survivor of the Auschwitz focus camp.
“Antisemitism is a plague within the nation, and it’s undoubtedly as much as us make sure that this tragedy is rarely to be seen once more,” Santos mentioned. “At the present time and on a regular basis, we give credence to the darkish aspect of humanity, however attempt for a greater, brighter future.”
Santos, 34, offered himself as a Jew throughout his run for New York’s third Congressional District final 12 months, however later deserted the declare.
He has mentioned he was raised within the Catholic religion.
“My father’s Roman Catholic, however I’m very happy with my Jewish heritage, I’m very happy with my grandparents’ story,” Santos mentioned in an interview with the Jewish Information Service within the fall, referencing his claims that his grandparents fled the Holocaust.
“I at all times joke: I’m Jew-ish,” Santos mentioned within the interview, a phrase he revisited after lots of his marketing campaign lies had been unearthed final month.
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The Ahead, an impartial Jewish information outlet, reported final month that family tree web sites contradict Santos’ claims that his grandparents fled anti-Jewish persecution. His mom’s dad and mom had been born in Brazil, in keeping with the report.
A spokeswoman for Santos, Naysa Woomer, didn’t instantly reply to an e mail on Friday asking if the congressman maintains that his grandparents fled the Nazis.