The US special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, Deborah Lipstadt, said on Friday that anti-Semites are using George Soros to promote hatred against Jews, weighing on the uproar over Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s tweet about another controversial billionaire.
Lipstadt tweeted: “Regardless of how one feels about George Soros’ policies or policies, it is completely disingenuous to deny that many advertising attacks on him are based on classic antisemitic statements and rhetoric. In times gone by, antisemites invoked the Rothschilds to promote their conspiracies about Jews. Today they use Soros to do it.”
Lipstadt’s comments came after Israel sent conflicting messages on the matter.
Musk tweeted about Soros last week, saying he reminded him of Magneto, a villain from the X-Men who, like Soros, survived the Holocaust.
Musk said Soros “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization.” Soros hates humanity.
Musk’s tweet “smells of anti-Semitism… [and] “Immediately brought in a flood of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories,” the State Department said on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, Twitter is doing nothing to address this issue,” State Department director of digital diplomacy David Saranga wrote on Twitter.
Soros does not need Israel’s protection
In an unusual move, Secretary of State Eli Cohen repudiated his ministry’s tweet when asked about it on Channel 14.
“There will be no more tweets like this,” he said. “Soros is not the one who needs the protection of the State of Israel.”
Diaspora Minister Amichai Shekli tweeted that “the Israeli government and the vast majority of Israeli citizens see Elon Musk as an amazing entrepreneur and role model.”
Shakli wrote: “The criticism of Soros, who finances the most hostile organizations to the Jewish people and the State of Israel, is nothing but anti-Semitism, quite the opposite.”
Soros’ Open Society Foundation has donated to organizations that accuse Israel of human rights abuses and war crimes, such as Breaking the Silence and Adalah. In 2016 emails leaked from OSF staff said they sought to weaken relations between Israel and the European Union and sow doubts about Israeli democracy.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, criticized Musk’s tweet, saying that “Soros is often believed by the far-right, using anti-Semitic tropes, as the source of the world’s problems. Elon Musk, whatever his intent, is fueling this segment – comparing him to a Jewish villain.” Soros, claiming that Soros “hates humanity” — not only is it sad, it’s dangerous: it will encourage extremists who are already hatching anti-Jewish plots and have tried to attack them and, as a result, Jewish communities,” Soros said.
Greenblatt later said in a televised interview that he did not believe Musk was an anti-Semite, but urged him to be more careful in his statements.
Musk responded on Twitter that he would “try to be more forward thinking…
Anyway, my actual concern with Soros is that he bankrolled a lot of politicians [and district attorneys] who tolerate even violent crimes that have caused great damage to many cities [in my opinion]Musk explained.
Soros is a major donor to the Democratic Party, and often contributes to candidates from the party’s left wing. In recent years, he has focused on criminal justice reform, supporting progressive district attorneys who are more reluctant to prosecute criminals for certain crimes and trying to reduce prison sentences.
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