Lawsuit claims Giuliani said: ‘Get over the Passover. It was like 3,000 years ago’

Rudy Giuliani, a former New York City mayor who became an aide to former US president Donald Trump, has mocked Jews for observing Passover, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by a former assistant who is accusing him of sexual assault and harassment.

“Jews want to go through their freaking Passover all the time, man oh man,” Guiliani once said, according to the complaint, which was filed on Monday in the New York Supreme Court and indicates that the comments were recorded. “Get over the Passover. It was like 3,000 years ago. The Red Sea parted, big deal. It’s not the first time that happened.”

The annual retelling of the story of the Israelite slaves’ exodus from Egypt each spring is one of the most widely observed Jewish practices.

According to the Torah, God caused the Red Sea to part with the help of Moses, leading the Israelites to freedom. It wasn’t clear what other parting of the sea Giuliani was referencing.

The vast majority of the $10 million lawsuit focuses on allegations by Nicole Dunphy, a former Giuliani associate, that he pressed her into sexual activity without her consent and harassed her continually almost as soon as she began working for him in January 2019.

Through a spokesperson, he “vehemently” denied the allegations Monday to the Associated Press.

The Jewish elements of the lawsuit were first reported by the Forward. In addition to mocking Jewish observance of Passover, Giuliani is also accused in the complaint of disparaging Jewish men’s penis sizes and commenting about the “‘freaking Arabs’ and Jews.” He also made racist comments about other groups, according to the suit.

Giuliani, who was New York City mayor from 1994 to 2001, was barred in 2021 from practicing law in New York state due to his repeated false claims about the 2020 election.