Tbilisi – The former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili excoriated an Israeli political strategist employed by his country’s ruling party, blasting the consultant as a “dirty Jew” during an antisemitic tirade.
Saakashvili, who served as President of Georgia for two terms, repeatedly used antisemitic slurs against Moshe Klughaft last week, assailing the Israeli political consultant as a “money-grubbing Jew,” and “dirty Jew”.
Klughaft is employed by Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, while Saakashvili leads the largest faction in the opposition, the conservative United National Movement.
During his tirade against Klughaft, Saakashvili also accused the Israeli political consultant of “working with Romanian communists”.
The Georgian government has provided Klughaft with extra security, giving him the status of a “protected citizen” since his arrival in the country last week.
The local Jewish community decried Saakashvili’s attack on Klughaft.
An umbrella organization representing Georgian Jews published a letter signed by 40 Jewish leaders in the country, saying, “We, the Georgian Jews, are outraged and condemn the anti-Semitic and discriminatory statement of Mikheil Saakashvili to the strategic adviser of the ruling party, Moshe Klughaft. This is not the first time that Mikheil Saakashvili has used hate speech against Jews, and therefore we expect a response from political forces, the media and non-governmental organizations.”
