Jewish Funds for Justice – the group that has loudly spoken out against Glenn Beck’s use of Holocaust comparisons – has defended George Soros’s controversial references to the Nazi regime, which were made during an interview on CNN yesterday morning.
The group told me that Soros’s comments were misinterpreted, and he did not, in fact, claim that Fox News was using Nazi tactics during his interview. Instead, Jewish Funds for Justice said that Soros was comparing Fox News to the German media that led to the fall of the Weimer Republic and the rise of the Nazi regime. The organization seemed to indicate that this was an acceptable, and even reasonable, comparison.
“You should really watch the interview again. George Soros did not compare Fox to Nazis,” the organization wrote in an email. “[Soros] talked about how during the Weimar Republic the media was full of falsehoods and deceived people, just like Glenn Beck and others do now….Ultimately, these actions by the press during Weimar contributed to the downfall of the Republic and the beginning of the Third Reich.”
I asked Jewish Funds for Justice whether it agreed with Soros’s assertion that Fox News and Beck broadcasts could potentially lead to a the downfall of our democratic government and the rise of a Nazi-like regime. The group hasn’t responded as of this writing.*
Jewish Funds for Justice, which has received funding from Soros, issued a public letter last month asking Fox News to sanction Glenn Beck for making Holocaust references on the air. “[Y]ou diminish the memory and meaning of the Holocaust when you use it to discredit any individual or organization you disagree with,” the group wrote in its letter.
Does comparing Fox News with the German media that helped usher in Hitler count as using the Holocaust to discredit the media organization? That certainly seems like a fair conclusion.
And on another note: While Jewish Funds for Justice hasn’t spoken out against Soros’s remarks, it has issued a denunciation of the Hitler signs at the Wisconsin rallies.
*UPDATE: Spokesperson, Mik Moore has since responded to this question via email. “We don’t claim to be experts on the media, so it is hard for us to judge with any authority how today’s media environment compares to that of Weimar Germany,” he said. “We believe that American democracy, which has been tested many times in its history, is strong enough to handle Beck and Fox News.”
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