Is Criticizing George Soros Antisemitic?
Elon Musk provoked the ire of the chattering classes with his recent criticism of George Soros.
“Soros reminds me of Magneto,” Musk tweeted to his 140.4 million followers, prompting outrage from the Left for comparing Soros to the Stan Lee comic book villain.
Magento is a mutant who has designs to take over the world. Magento also parallels Soros with his backstory of being Jewish Holocaust survivor Max Eisenhardt.
As one political activist, Brian Krassenstein, who caught Musk’s attention, tweeted:
“Fun fact: Magneto’s experiences during the Holocaust as a survivor shaped his perspective as well as his depth and empathy. Soro [sic], also a Holocaust survivor, get’s [sic] attacked nonstop for his good intentions which some Americans think are bad merely because they disagree with this [sic] political affiliations.”
“You assume they are good intentions. They are not,” Musk responded. “He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.”
Does Soros "Hate Humanity?"
Just one of Soros’ projects to which Musk was most likely referring was the billionaire’s plan to remake the American justice system. Soros has attempted to do this by spending millions of dollars to fund the election campaigns of far-left district attorneys. He is also openly proud of it.
These DAs, once elected, have abolished bail and refused to prosecute a variety of quality-of-life crimes, including hit-and-runs, eluding the police, property damage, reckless driving, trespassing, public drunkenness, shoplifting, failure to appear in court and criminal assault, among others.
By failing to prosecute these crimes, Soros-backed DAs are able to circumvent state legislatures, essentially taking on the role of lawmakers themselves. Hence the charge that Soros wants to remake the American system of justice.
Cities in which Soros’ millions have effectuated the desired result have seen a devastating decrease in law and order accompanied by a skyrocketing increase in crime, including murder and rape.
In 2018, in the midst of Soros’ project of justice “reform,” the AP published the following analysis:
“Just take a look at Mr. Soros’ IRS 990s (of his $20 billion Open Society Foundation), and you can see the scale of the funding efforts to defeat everything from the free market system to the structure of the timeless nuclear family.
Why destroy the family unit, you ask? Because Mr. Soros knows that the nuclear family has been the basis upon which every single stable civil society has been built since the beginning of time.”
Soros’ funding promotes all matters from the legalization of drugs to the “sex worker” industry, pansexuality and “resistance” to the American system of government. The AP reports that Soros’ money even pays for “rented ministers” in various churches – ministers “who are being paid to advocate for anti-Christian 'progressive' causes.”
Soros’ Worth and Reach
As of March 2021, Soros had a net worth of $8.6 billion after donating more than $32 billion to his Open Society Foundations (of which $15 billion had already been distributed).
Due to his reach and the subsequent scale of destruction stemming from Soros’ machinations, one could certainly come to the conclusion, as did Musk, that Soros “hates humanity.”
Is Criticizing Soros Anti-Semitic?
According to the International Holocaust Remembrance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by the U.S. State Department, 39 other countries and a variety of local and regional organizations, it is antisemitic to:
Accuse Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group
Thus, according to this accepted definition of antisemitism, it is anti-Semitic to link Soros to his Jewishness and, in the process, connect all Jews to Soros’ “nefarious” projects.
(Ironically, although Soros was born Jewish, it is something he has distanced himself from in his adult life.)
Question: Is Soros Himself AntiSemitic?
Question: Is Soros Himself AntiSemitic?
According to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, it is also anti-Semitic to:
Deny the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor
Apply double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation
Many have noted that the Boycott Divestment Sanctions BDS movement falls under the above definition of antisemitism through its anti-Zionist stance (i.e., denying Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish nation) and its application of double standards to the state of Israel. Many of the vocal leaders of the BDS movement are also adamant in their belief that Israel is a racist endeavor.
Soros, through his Open Society Foundations, has given tens of millions of dollars to BDS-supporting NGOs whose sole purpose is to destroy the state of Israel and undermine not only Israel’s right to self-defense but its very right to exist.
While Soros is usually open about his goals and the organizations he funds, it took the revelation of a series of secret documents, leaked in 2016, to expose the extent of Soros’ support of the BDS movement as well as groups linked to anti-Israel terrorist organizations.
What Anti-Israel Organizations Does Soros Fund?
Those groups included, among others:
The New Israel Fund, which funnels at least $30 million annually to organizations that support BDS and actively oppose the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
Adalah, which engages in lawfare against Israel, and
Molad, which supports BDS and describes Israel’s characterization of itself as the “nation-state of the Jewish people” as “both illegitimate and dangerous”
In 2010 alone, Open Society Foundation pledged $100 million over 10 years to Human Rights Watch (HRW), a powerful organization that has long been accused of harboring an anti-Israel bias and an outsized focus on Israel in comparison to other countries. HRW has also promoted BDS for decades.
Soros also funds pro-BDS individuals and groups affiliated with known Palestinian terrorist groups, particularly groups connected with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
One of these organizations, the Gaza-based NGO Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), lists Soros’ organization in their 2017 annual report as a contributor of at least $650,000.
The list goes on.
Does Criticizing Soros Damage Jews?
Antisemitic tropes – such as Jews control the world, Jews run the media and international banking, etc. – represent real bigotry. These tropes have plagued Jews for centuries and, by all indications, will continue to do so – with or without Soros.
These tropes can be found in popular culture through media influencers like Kanye West to the halls of Congress. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s tweet, “It’s all about the Benjamins,” evokes the same trope.
Yet crying antisemitism every time someone lodges a legitimate criticism of Soros only serves to further these tropes, pushing them into mainstream consciousness. It makes the clear antisemitic statement that all Jews are responsible for the actions of every individual Jew
If we are going to say that Musk’s comparison of Soros to Magneto is antisemitic, then we also must be willing to say Marvel is antisemitic for creating a Jewish supervillain who wants to take over the world.
But the answer is not to shut down the conversation and, in the process, any criticism of Soros. Rather, the answer is to focus on the man and his deeds. Not the religion of his birth.