Jemima Goldsmith has hit out at a Pakistani politician over an antisemitic comment she made about the children she’d had with ex-husband Imran Khan.
Maryam Nawaz, vice-president of the Pakistani Muslim League, made the antisemitic remark after Mr Khan, now Pakistan‘s prime minister, accused her family of corruption and attacked her son for playing polo in the UK.
Speaking during an election rally in the region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, Mr Khan – who has two sons with ex-wife Ms Goldsmith – referenced photos showing Ms Nawaz’s father, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, at his grandson’s polo match at the University of Cambridge.
Image:
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan accused Maryam Nawaz’s family of corruption and attacked her son for playing polo in the UK
Former cricketer Mr Khan said: “The poor go to jail and the powerful [Nawaz Sharif] get NRO [deal] to go abroad and watch his grandson’s polo match.”
“The common man cannot play polo – a kings’ sport. You need a lot of money to keep a horse and play polo. So tell us where this dear grandson got this money from. It’s the people’s money.”
Ms Nawaz responded to the remarks during a speech, saying: “My son [Junaid] is the polo team captain [for Cambridge University] and is bringing honour to Pakistan.
“He is Nawaz Sharif’s grandson, not Goldsmith’s, and he is not being raised in the lap of Jews.”
On Twitter, Ms Goldsmith said: “My kids are ‘being raised in the lap of the Jews,’ announced @MaryamNSharif today.
“I left Pakistan in 2004 after a decade of antisemitic attacks by the media & politicians (& weekly death threats & protests outside my house). But still it continues”
My kids are “being raised in the lap of the Jews,” announced @MaryamNSharif today.
I left Pakistan in 2004 after a decade of antisemitic attacks by the media & politicians (& weekly death threats & protests outside my house). But still it continues https://t.co/TGjUxfT1gC
— Jemima Goldsmith (@Jemima_Khan) July 19, 2021
Responding on Twitter, Ms Nawaz said: “I have absolutely no interest in you, your sons or your personal lives because I have better things to do and say but if your ex drags in families of others out of spite, others will have nastier things to say.
“You have only your ex to blame.”
I have absolutely no interest in you, your sons or your personal lives because I have better things to do and say but if your ex drags in families of others out of spite, others will have nastier things to say. You have only your ex to blame. https://t.co/DxoUqwjoTn
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 20, 2021
Ms Goldsmith, a documentary producer, married former Pakistan cricket captain Mr Khan in 1995.
The couple had two sons before divorcing nine years later.
