To counteract what they claim is the left’s intellectually dishonest protection of Democrat megadonor George Soros, several Jewish conservatives have have reportedly banded together to form a new group to oppose his malign influence
Jews Against Soros (JAS), a grassroots alliance of American Jews that opposes both Soros’ “leftist agenda” and the “left-wing smear” that criticizing the Jewish Hungarian billionaire is antisemitic, was founded by former federal prosecutor Will Scharf and Newsweek senior editor-at-large Josh Hammer.
“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. 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.” Hammer noted during a recent interview.
This claim has frequently been made by Democrats and members of the media when conservatives call out Soros’ significant influence in politics.
According to JAS’s co-founders, the organization’s ultimate goal is to serve as a “one-stop shop” for opponents of Soros.
Both Hammer and Scharf have strong feelings about Soros’ funding for tough-on-crime prosecutors and his other progressive initiatives.
They both have considerable legal backgrounds. Scharf, who is also Jewish, said that when he pursued Kimberly Gardner, the Soros-backed prosecutor in St. Louis, he was confronted with allegations of antisemitism.
“I’d have Jews in my community, liberal Jews, saying, ‘You can’t talk about Soros that way. It’s antisemitic,’ which is crazy. 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 said.
