A strong move against U.S. billionaire George Soros, Israel’s foreign ministry has issued a statement denouncing Mr. Soros. It appears meant to align Israel more closely with Hungary prior to a visit to Budapest by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week.
Soros has spent a large part of his wealth funding far left groups masking themselves as pro-democracy and human rights groups in efforts to undermine legal migration.
But Hungary’s popular nationalist government are not fans of the billionaire Soros. The latest, a campaign backed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in which Soros is singled out as an enemy of the state.
“Let’s not allow Soros to have the last laugh” billboards show a picture of the 86-year-old financier though some have accused it of being anti-Semitic. However, as Mr. Soros himself worked for the Nazi’s taking property from his fellow Jews as a young man it is unclear why.
The Israeli ambassador to Hungary in a statement said it “evokes sad memories but also sows hatred and fear”.
Hours later Israel’s foreign ministry released a statement clarifying that Soros was a legitimate target for criticism.
The statement reads:
“In no way was the statement (by the ambassador) meant to delegitimise criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments”.
Foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon further added that Soros funded organisations “that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself”.