The behavior of the Jewish billionaire is “shameful,” but not surprising, UN envoy Gilad Erdan says
The Israeli envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, speaks at the UN Security Council meeting in New York, US, on November 29, 2023. © Getty Images / David Dee Delgado
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan fired a broadside at the Jewish billionaire and bankroller of liberal causes, George Soros, accusing him of funding groups allegedly seeking “destruction” of the country.
The diplomat made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Digital, commenting on reports of Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) donating at least $15 million to organizations that openly cheered the October 7 attack on Israel staged by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“George Soros’ donations to organizations that seek the destruction of the State of Israel as a Jewish state is shameful. However, I am not surprised,” Erdan stated.
The Hungarian-American billionaire has long supported anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups, including through funding the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the envoy noted.
“For years, Soros has backed and transferred money to organizations supporting BDS that want to isolate Israel,” Erdan said, claiming that such groups have “never been about real peace or any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The diplomat’s remarks apparently come in response to a recent report by the New York Post that explored donations by the OSF. The daily tabloid found that since at least 2016, the foundation has funneled more than $15 million to groups that cheered the Hamas attack and staged pro-Palestinian protests in its aftermath.
Namely, Soros’ network donated $13.7 million to the Tides Center, a rights advocacy group that has been sponsoring multiple non-profits that have justified the Hamas attack, the report noted. The OSF also made sizable donations to Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now groups, which have been actively staging protests amid the new escalation in the Middle East and “have been spewing hate at rallies since the massacre,” as the Post put it.
The Israeli UN envoy has been very vocal amid the ongoing crisis, repeatedly lashing out at any attempts to criticize Israel and its heavy-handed campaign in Gaza, prompted by the Hamas attack. Among other things, Erdan accused UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of “justification for terrorism and murder,” demanding that he resign. The angry reaction was prompted by Guterres suggesting the Hamas attacks “did not happen in a vacuum” but after Palestinians had been “subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation” by Israel.
