On November 10, just two days after Election Day, Jewish Insider published an interview titled, “Meet the next Jewish Republican congressman from Long Island.” Reporter Matthew Kassel wrote that George Santos “will make history as Long Island’s first openly gay representative,” and he “can also claim another unique distinction: Santos, 34, will be the only Jewish Republican member of New York’s House delegation when he is sworn in this January.”
There’s faith, and there’s heritage.
“The way I look at this is, I’m going to represent one of the most Jewish-rich districts in the country, with the most population of Jews,” Santos told Jewish Insider, “and I’m going to do that honorably.”
Barely more than a month later, not even sworn in to Congress, Santos appears to have broken his promise.
According to reporting from The New York Times and other publications, Santos appears to have lied about where he went to school, where he lives, where he worked, and now, as Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel suggests, Santos’ claim of being of Jewish heritage is being called into question by Jewish publications.
Jacob Kornbluh, a senior reporter at The Forward, a 125-year old publication that calls itself “a leading source of news, opinion and culture through a Jewish lens,” shows Santos claiming to be of Jewish heritage.
Just months after the coronavirus pandemic began, in June of 2020, Santos got into a disturbing exchange on Twitter.
“Wow you pulled the Nazi card on the grandson of Holocaust refugees! Smart move there,” Santos charged, attacking a woman who had called him a Nazi. “I’m sure you educate you family to be just as beligerant and intolerant towards others. Sending much needed love to you! #GodBlessYou,” he added, misspelling included.
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Kornbluh pointed to that exchange and noted on Wednesday, “In 2020 Santos claimed to be the ‘grandson of Holocaust refugees.'”
Kornbluh also posted video of Santos saying, “I’m very proud of my Jewish heritage.”
He also pointed to an article at The Forward that reads: “it appears Santos is not Jewish — and lied about his family fleeing persecution during the war. Neither of his maternal grandparents appear in Brazilian immigration cards in the 1930s or 1940s, or in the databases of Yad Vashem…”
The author of that piece, Andrew Silverstein, calls Santos’ claim of being of Jewish heritage “one more lie.”
“Congressman-elect George Santos’ emotional narrative of having Jewish grandparents who fled Europe during World War II appears to be untrue, like much of the rest of his campaign biography, according to genealogy websites reviewed by the Forward,” writes Silverstein.
“Santos, a Long Island Republican, has said that his father was Catholic and his mother was Jewish, and that both faiths ‘are mine.’ The very first line of the ‘About George’ page on his campaign website states: ‘George’s grandparents fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII.'”
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Silverstein adds: “But the website myheritage.com lists Santos’ maternal grandparents as having both been born in Brazil before the Nazis rose to power.”
And he even quoted Santos.
“Whether my mother’s Jewish background beliefs, which are mine, or my father’s Roman Catholic beliefs, which are also mine, are represented or not,” Santos told Silverstein. “I want to represent everyone else that practices every other religion to make sure everybody feels like they have a partner in me.”
He also cites another genealogist, and writes they “confirmed by email that the family does not have Ukrainian or Jewish roots.”
Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports that “Brazilian database records,” and a “historian cast doubt on Santos’ claims of Jewish ancestry.”
This article has been updated to include Insider’s latest reporting citing database records.