US anti-Semitism envoy slams attacks on Soros, after Diaspora minister criticizes

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The Biden administration’s anti-Semitism envoy on Friday denounced the attacks on Jewish billionaire George Soros, a day after Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli came to the defense of Elon Musk, who has come under fire for saying Soros “hate humanity”.

On Monday, Musk likened the philanthropist to a comic book villain, drawing criticism from the State Department, the ADL and other Jewish organizations, which said the comments fueled anti-Semitism. However, Foreign Secretary Eli Cohen later disavowed his office’s statement.

Chikli defended Musk on Thursday saying, “As Israel’s minister responsible for combating anti-Semitism, I would like to make it clear that the Israeli government and the vast majority of Israeli citizens regard Elon Musk as an incredible entrepreneur and role model.

“Criticism of Soros – who funds organizations most hostile to the Jewish people and the State of Israel – is anything but anti-Semitism, quite the contrary,” Chikli said.

The United States’ special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, Deborah Lipstadt, became the first Biden official to speak on the issue, tweeting on Friday that “regardless of what one thinks of politics or policies of George Soross, it is totally hypocritical to deny that many ad hominem attacks against him are based on classic anti-Semitic tropes and rhetoric.

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“In bygone times, anti-Semites invoked the Rothschild family to further their conspiracies against the Jews. Today they use Soros to do that,” she said.

Elon Musk leaves the Phillip Burton Federal Building and the United States Courthouse in San Francisco, January 24, 2023. (Benjamin Fanjoy/AP)

Last month, The Times of Israel pressed Lipstadt over former US President Donald Trump’s denunciation of the Manhattan prosecutor who accused him of being hand-picked by Soros.

I don’t want to get involved in this because there is a campaign, but I will say that I am bothered by many people and many other countries and individuals who use this kind of boogeymen. That’s not always the case, but it certainly can have anti-Semitic implications, she said, avoiding direct criticism.

Soros is a Holocaust survivor and megadonor to progressive causes, and a common target of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

Chikli is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party.

Kicking off the controversy on Monday, Musk said Soros reminded me of Magneto, a comic book villain who features in the Marvels X-Men series. The character, like Soros, is a Holocaust survivor.

As Israel’s minister responsible for combating anti-Semitism, I would like to make it clear that the Israeli government and the vast majority of Israeli citizens regard Elon Musk as an incredible entrepreneur and role model. Criticism of Soros – who funds the most hostile

— – Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) May 18, 2023

In a follow-up comment, Musk said, “He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.

While Musk spoke out against progressive politics, what prompted his attack on Soros was unclear. On the same day as the tweets, however, the Soross family’s investment office cashed in on its investment in Tesla, electric car company Musks.

The Foreign Office linked Musk’s comments to anti-Semitism.

The phrase The Jews climbed the list of hot topics on Twitter today following an anti-Semitic tweet by none other than the owner and CEO of the social network, Elon Musk, which the Foreign Office tweeted on his official account.

He said Musks’ tweet immediately led to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on Twitter.

Hungarian-born American investor and philanthropist George Soros answers questions after delivering a speech on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on May 24, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)

Cohen later disavowed the statements.

“There will be no more tweets like that,” Cohen told Channel 14, in a rare instance where a minister refuted a statement from his own ministry.

Soros, 92, has long been a target of conservatives for supporting progressive causes and politicians in the United States and around the world. Over the past decade, some of the attacks have echoed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, portraying Soros as satanic, accusing him of seeking world control, and falsely accusing him of helping carry out the Holocaust rather than to survive in childhood.

These conspiracy theories accelerated after the election of Donald Trump in 2016, who made Soros the focus of his final campaign ad that year and relentlessly portrayed Soros as a villain as he presents himself. in the 2024 elections.

JTA and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report

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