By: Kate Anderson, Daily Caller News Foundation
Two Jewish conservatives launched a campaign attacking George Soros Wednesday, arguing that criticism of the left-wing billionaire and business mogul is “not antisemitic.”
Josh Hammer, a senior editor at Newsweek, and Will Scharf, who is currently running for Missouri Attorney General, announced the “Jews Against Soros” campaign Wednesday as a “new grassroots coalition of Jews” that opposes the billionaire’s “radical left-wing agenda,” according to a press release. The goal of the campaign is to combat the idea that any criticism of Soros’ political activity and influence is antisemitic, a charge often levied at those who have criticized the left-wing megadonor’s funding networks.
“Jews Against Soros will fight back against the common left-wing smear that opposition to Soros and his sprawling network of political organizations is antisemitic,” the press release reads. “Attacking Soros for his influence on American politics, to say nothing of his nefarious agenda in Israel itself, isn’t antisemitic. It is simply a fact that Soros funds a huge proportion of the radical left in this country. And he must be stopped.”
Scharf told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the purpose of the campaign is to show that there are many Jews who “oppose Soros and what he stands for, and it’s time for our voices to be heard.”
“So far, in just a few hours, between Twitter and our website we have received inquiries and support from thousands of like-minded individuals,” Scharf said. “We plan to build a grassroots army of Jews committed to standing up against Soros and his brand of leftism.”
Hammer explained in a series of Twitter posts that “some who justly and correctly criticize Soros,” such as Elon Musk, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and others, have been called antisemites for pushing back against Soros’ “American anarchism, undermining Israel’s territorial integrity, and destabilizing Western nation-states more generally.”
The website for the campaign notes Soros spent $128.5 million on Democratic causes and candidates in the 2022 midterm elections and $70 million during the 2020 election cycle. Scharf also pointed out reports that Soros’ Open Society network has provided funding to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS), some of which also have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terror-linked organization, according to the Washington Examiner.
“Especially at a time of rising antisemitism worldwide, it becomes even more important to call out false accusations of Jew-hatred that merely provide cover for a particular political agenda,” Hammer told the DCNF. “George Soros has dedicated his entire life’s work to harming America, harming the Jewish state of Israel, and harming the Jewish people’s interests around the world. He must be stopped, and calling him out for the destructive force he is not antisemitic in the slightest.”
The Open Society Foundations did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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