Posted on May 22, 2023

When Is It Antisemitic?

Gregory Hood, American Renaissance, May 22, 2023

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George Soros is one of the most powerful people alive. Forbes estimates his net worth at $6.7 billion. That’s more than the GDP of some countries. He’s the man who “broke the Bank of England” when he shorted the pound and forced the British government to withdraw from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992. It’s a factual description to call him a currency speculator and hedge fund manager, practically a caricature of the rich capitalist whom leftists say they oppose. It’s therefore remarkable to see mainstream media and civil rights groups riding to his defense.

But that is what happened last week after Elon Musk criticized Mr. Soros’s funding for liberal prosecutors who are considered soft on crime. In a tweet, Mr. Musk compared Mr. Soros to a Marvel Comics supervillain:

In the dialogue that followed, he declared that Mr. Soros “hates humanity.” Then, a couple of days later, he followed up, humorously, with this:

Meanwhile, establishment defenders had stepped in.

Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League tweeted:

Soros often is held up by the far-right, using antisemitic tropes, as the source of the world’s problems. To see Elon Musk, regardless of his intent, feed this segment — comparing him to a Jewish supervillain, claiming Soros ‘hates humanity’ — is not just distressing, it’s dangerous: it will embolden extremists who already contrive anti-Jewish conspiracies and have tried to attack Soros and Jewish communities as a result.

Ted Deutch, head of the American Jewish Committee, charged that such criticism of Mr. Soros constituted “the Protocols of the Elders of Zion for the internet age.”

Even the Israeli Foreign Ministry weighed in, saying that Mr. Musk had tweeted something with “antisemitic overtones” – even though many Israelis think Mr. Soros is anti-Israeli.

Jewish individuals and groups are not so quick to defend Jews who are under attack but who have different opinions from those of Mr. Soros.

Stephen Miller, who is Jewish and is a former speechwriter for President Trump, runs an organization that offers legal challenges to open-borders policies and anti-white discrimination. In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League called for Mr. Miller to be fired for the crime of being familiar with VDARE.com.

Stephen Miller. Credit Image: © Ron Sachs/CNP via ZUMA Wire

Then there’s Amy Wax, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School whom Jared Taylor has called “the bravest, most outspoken dissident academic in America today.” Being Jewish has not been enough to save her from a determined effort by Penn to oust her for making unapproved statements.

The ADL praised the dismissal from the Trump administration of Darren Beattie, a Jewish man, after he was found to have spoken at a dissident event. The organization then demanded a “better explanation” from the administration about its hiring and personnel policies.

As for George Soros, it’s hard to argue that he is a “victim.” Nevertheless, the champions of equality are eager to take his side while ignoring the plight of Jews who enjoy far fewer elite connections and much less wealth. The ADL is nowhere to be found when Jews are attacked for dissenting from egalitarian orthodoxy.

Unless the ADL, the Washington Post, and other groups think Jewishness is defined by far-left political beliefs, it’s hard to take their accusations of antisemitism seriously. Mr. Soros isn’t being criticized because he’s a Jew — even though the ADL and others absurdly seem to believe that.

But ethnicity apparently makes no difference when Amy Wax, Darren Beattie, Stephen Miller, and others are attacked. It’s not antisemitic to criticize them. This position seems far more bigoted than anything Elon Musk has said.