He [George Soros] is a favorite bogeyman of the political right, not only in Europe but also the United States. He featured in the closing ad of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, his face appearing amid accusations that “a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities.” According to the ad, which was criticized for striking an anti-Semitic tone, Trump was the only thing standing between this greedy cabal and innocent American citizens. [...]
Concerned by reports from Hungarian Jews that the posters were sparking an uptick in anti-Semitism, Israel’s ambassador to Hungary, Yossi Amrani, issued an extraordinarily sharp statement last weekend. In it, he called on Orbán and his Fidesz party to remove posters hung throughout the country that criticized Soros, saying it was fueling anti-Semitism. [...]
The statement was too much for Netanyahu. On his orders, the statement was “clarified,” to emphasize that while the condemnation of anti-Semitism remained, “in no way was the statement meant to delegitimize criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself.” [...]
Israel and Hungary’s NGO laws may both target groups that Soros supports, but they differ in a key regard. The Israeli law specifically cracks down on donations from foreign governments – not individual foreigners or their foundations.
But in the midst of the controversy over Hungary, one member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, Miki Zohar, said he plans to introduce an Israeli “Soros law,” in which “any person donating to organizations acting against Israel will not be allowed to donate to any organization or nonprofit association in Israel.”
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