- A GOP Jewish group says Santos lied to them about being Jewish.
- Santos, for his part, claimed on Monday that he had only claimed to be "Jew-ish."
Shortly after winning a seat in Congress in November, George Santos travelled to Las Vegas, Nevada to address a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition's Annual Leadership Meeting.
"Well, good morning, Shabbat Shalom to everybody," he told the group on November 19, saying that his election meant that "now there will be three" Jewish Republicans members of Congress.
But now, the group says they want nothing to do with him because he lied to him about his heritage — he's not Jewish after all.
"We are very disappointed in Congressman-elect Santos. He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage," said executive director Matt Brooks. "In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish. He has begun his tenure in Congress on a very wrong note. He will not be welcome at any future RJC event."
It comes after The Forward reported last week that Santos had misrepresented his Jewish heritage — among a litany of other apparent lies.
As he's begun to address those falsehoods, Santos claimed in an interview on Monday that he had never actually claimed to be Jewish.
"I never claimed to be Jewish," he told the New York Post. "I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was 'Jew-ish.'"
He repeated that same argument in a later interview with City & State NY while suggesting it was wrong to scrutinize his claims of Jewish heritage.
"It just strikes me so odd that people are rushing to disinherit me from being Jewish, or for even allowing to care for Israel and Judaism, in a time, in an era, where anti-Semitism is at an all-time rise," he said. "Here's somebody who actually cares about Jews, cares about Israel, and somebody willing to fight for them, and we have people pushing me away."
But The Forward also reported on Tuesday that in a memo to pro-Israel groups distributed during his campaign, he claimed to be a "proud American Jew."