Georgian Jewish community has responded to a statement made by former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, against Moshe Klughaft, a PR specialist from Israel.
The community has called Saakashvili's statement “anti-Semitic and discriminatory.”
"We, Georgian Jews, are outraged and condemning Mikheil Saakashvili's anti-Semitic and discriminatory statement to Moshe Klughaft. Saakashvili's words insult not only a particular person, but also all the Jewish people, and particularly Georgian Jews. There are 26 centuries of exemplary brotherhood between Georgian and Jewish nations, which has intangible and cultural heritage status, and nothing will damage it, especially someone’s private and incorrect expressions,” reads the official statement adding that the community is expecting appropriate reactions from representatives of political forces, media and NGOs about Mikheil Saakashvili's statement.
While speaking to Rustavi 2 TV channel on November 18, ex-President Saakashvili has mentioned the PR Specialist from Israel, Moshe Klughaft, hired by the ruling Georgian Dream party, and called him a 'fraud Jew’.
Independent presidential candidate, Salome Zourabichvili has also condemned the statement of the former president calling it ‘unequivocally anti-Semitic’.
“Anti semitism in all its forms should be condemned and never be tolerated in Georgia. They are absolutely unacceptable coming from the former president of this country. Anti semitism has never been a feature of Georgian politics and should never become so. Georgia is known around the world and in Israel for not having experienced anti-semitism for centuries. I consider those statements to be an insult to Georgia and to Georgian values. As a presidential candidate I take pride in Georgia’s tradition of tolerance and its culture of openness. As the future president of this country, I intend to uphold those values and take all necessary steps against anti-semitism, hate speech and all forms of religious or ethnic discrimination,” Zourabichvili said.
The public defender, Nino Lomjaria has assessed the anti-Semitic statement ‘unacceptable’ calling on political parties and their supporters to avoid such discriminatory statements.