Some Jewish conservatives are joining forces to combat what they say is the left’s intellectually dishonest shielding of Democrat megadonor George Soros.
Former federal prosecutor Will Scharf and Newsweek senior editor-at-large Josh Hammer launched Jews Against Soros (JAS), a grassroots coalition of American Jews that not only opposes Soros’ “leftist agenda” but is fighting back against the “left-wing smear” that criticizing the Jewish Hungarian billionaire is antisemitic, a claim that has often been leveled by Democrats and members of the media when conservatives call out his major influence in politics.
“There’s really no easier way to try to shut down an entirely legitimate debate than to falsely accuse someone of something no less serious than the world’s oldest form of bigotry, antisemitism.” Hammer told Fox News Digital in an interview with both JAS co-founders. “Second of all, at a time of actual rising antisemitism all across the world, including in the United States, it does severe damage to the cause of those who have a vested interest in calling out and condemning real antisemitism to let these incredibly fabricated, politically tendentious charges of antisemitism metastasize throughout our culture as well.”
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The ultimate mission for JAS, according to its co-founders, is to be a “one-stop shop” for Soros critics and to “provide cover” to elected officials, giving them “more confidence in being able to freely call out Soros’ pernicious influence without unfair allegations being hurled their way.”
Hammer and Scharf, both with extensive legal backgrounds, have strong animus towards Soros’ support for soft-on-crime prosecutors and his other progressive causes. Scharf, who is also Jewish, said he has faced accusations of antisemitism when he’d go after Kimberly Gardner, the Soros-backed prosecutor in St. Louis.
“I’d have Jews in my community, liberal Jews, saying, ‘You can’t talk about Soros that way. It’s antisemitic,’ which is crazy,” Scharf told Fox News Digital. “I’m talking from personal experience about a woman that Soros publicly supported but if you say those facts out loud somehow that, through some kind of alchemical process, is antisemitic and it doesn’t make any sense. It needed to be called out, and I think Josh and I both saw a real need for Jews to stand up and fight that sort of thing.”
Scharf, who is running to become Missouri Attorney General, took a swipe at liberal Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League for championing the antisemitism narrative about Soros. Hammer slammed the “ridiculous double standard” since he said such claims were never made about the left’s criticism of the financial influence the late GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson had in politics.
“If you’re actually condemning their substantive political opinions and where their money is heading to, what they’re funding, that’s entirely fair game,” Hammer said. “Now, obviously, you know, in here, there and everywhere can easily turn into antisemitism… but if you’re simply condemning someone for what causes he or she funds, especially if, as in the case of Soros, he is one if not the largest funder of particular causes, you know, that strikes me as just entirely fair.”
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Among the countless antisemitism claims being thrown around by the left in response to Soros criticism, two “ridiculous” examples that stood out to the two JAS co-founders were in August 2022 when Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted “The Democrats just blocked my effort to try and force Soros-backed prosecutors to put dangerous criminals in jail” and last month when Twitter owner Elon Musk compared the billionaire to the “X-Men” villain Magneto, writing, “You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity” (the comic book character is also Jewish).
In addition to soft-on-crime policies, Soros, Scharf says, stands for “a breakdown of national sovereignty,” an “open border” and the “fundamental undermining of the state of Israel and the American-Israeli alliance,” declaring him “one of the most dangerous men in the world.” Added Hammer, “He’s just a profoundly destructive force.”
Hammer also railed against the legacy media for going along with the narrative since Soros’ causes are towards the interests of news organizations he says are “irredeemably biased” for Democrats.
“The New York Times editorial board, the talking heads on MSNBC, folks like that have a direct vested interest in offering apologia for George Soros, condemning any criticism of him. So I think that has definitely played a role here as well,” Hammer said, to which Scharf followed, “The legacy media is lazy and doesn’t like putting in hard work.”
