‘FINANCIAL TIMES’ NAMES GEORGE SOROS PERSON OF THE YEAR

AMY SPIRO

Business magnate George Soros arrives to speak at the Open Russia Club in London, Britain June 20, 2016. (photo credit: REUTERS/LUKE MACGREGOR)

The Financial Times announced on Wednesday that its 2018 person of the year was Jewish billionaire, investor and philanthropist George Soros.

The newspaper called the 88-year-old the “father of the hedge fund industry and one of the world’s most prominent philanthropists,” who has “tirelessly supported” a liberal democratic order around the globe. The article noted that the selection of Soros is both a reflection of his achievements and also “about the values he represents.”

While Soros, the founder of the Open Society Foundation, has been active for over 30 years, he has found himself the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories and baseless allegations about his activities.

“I’m blamed for everything, including being the anti-Christ,” Soros told the Times. “I wish I didn’t have so many enemies, but I take it as an indication that I must be doing something right.”

Among the particularly odious claims is the repeated attack from opponents that Soros collaborated with the Nazis as a teenager. Soros, who was 14 when the Nazis invaded Hungary, was sent to live with a non-Jewish official in the country to hide him from the Nazis. During that period, he accompanied the official on visits to take inventory of confiscated Jewish property, an activity he never actively took part in.

Earlier this year, Soros was one of a slew of people in the US, who received explosive devices in the mail.

But Soros’s decades of activity have often resulted in charges of meddling in foreign affairs around the globe.

An exclusive report by The Jerusalem Post in March revealed that an group funded by Soros worked to focus German influence in Hungary in order to lobby against Hungary’s NGO law, which limits funding for non-governmental organizations.

Soros has also focused some of his efforts in Israel, funding in the past organizations like Breaking the Silence, J Street, the New Israel Fund and Adalah, an Israeli-Arab legal aid organization.

Soros told the Times that he is considering becoming more active in Israel, and is particularly dismayed by the recent Nation-State Law.

In 2017, the Times named software engineer and activist Susan Fowler as its person of the year, in 2016 it selected US President Donald Trump and in 2015 it chose German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

French court convicts Soros of insider trading

Staff and agencies [ Fri 20 Dec 2002 14.40 GMT ]

A French court today convicted US billionaire investor George Soros of insider trading and fined him 2.2m euros.

The fine by the court is the same amount the Hungarian-born magnate was accused of having made from buying stocks at French bank Société Générale with insider knowledge 14 years ago. The fine was in line with the request by prosecutors.

Mr Soros, 72, the president of Soros Fund Management, denies having privileged information. He was not in court today.

In court testimony in November, Mr Soros said: “I have been in business all my life, and I think I know what is insider trading and what isn’t.”

Société Générale was privatised in 1987. A year later, its stock price went up during an unsuccessful takeover bid. Mr Soros was accused of having obtained insider information before the abortive corporate raid pushed up the stock price.

Mr Soros went on trial with two other men, Jean-Charles Naouri, a former top aide to France’s then-finance minister Pierre Beregovoy, and Lebanese businessman Samir Traboulsi. The court cleared both men of any wrongdoing. Prosecutors had sought fines of 290,000 euros for Mr Naouri and 1.98m euros for Mr Traboulsi.

Mr Soros has said he was interested in Société Générale based on information he claims was widely known: France’s leftist government of the time favoured takeovers to change the leadership at recently privatised companies. Mr Soros said he was buying stock in many companies and had no reason not to include Société Générale.

Afterward, he sold the stock, saying he felt the takeover attempt was politically motivated and was not going to benefit the company.

Mr Soros was reportedly the first American to earn a billion dollars in a single year. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1930, he emigrated to the United States in 1956 and became a citizen five years later. He made his fortune managing investment funds.

Forbes magazine ranked him this year as the 37th richest person in the world, with an estimated $6.9bn fortune.

Prosecutors said the case dragged on because Swiss authorities took years to respond to requests for information. Defence lawyers argued unsuccessfully that the case should be thrown out because it took so long to bring to court.

Hamas again tries to manipulate

Yoav Limor

Hamas on Thursday tried its usual tactic: psychological warfare. Releasing information supposedly related to the IDF special forces operation in Gaza on Nov. 11 is meant as a manipulation that Hamas hopes will produce certain results.

Hamas likely has several goals in mind. The first, as always, is to embarrass Israel – to point a spotlight into the shadows and show that the operation failed, and to reveal the soldiers’ identities and turn the hunters into prey.

The second goal is to gather information. Hamas cannot be certain that the information it has is correct. It hopes Israeli citizens will disseminate the information, share and chatter, naturally wondering if they recognize someone. Hamas hopes this will help it verify or discredit the information it has.

The third and most important goal is to understand what happened. What was the undercover commando team doing in Gaza when it was detected? Were they at the start of their mission or the end? What was their specific objective? Photographs disseminated after the incident indicate that Hamas has some equipment the soldiers left behind and it is trying to piece together what it was used for. It hopes Israeli chatter will reveal more of the puzzle.

The fourth and final goal is to tarnish Israel in the eyes of regional players – specifically Egypt and Qatar – as responsible for starting the latest round of fighting. Additionally, Hamas probably wants to signal to its partners in the region (primarily Iran and Hezbollah) that Israel is not idle, even after the shooting stops.

From this perspective, the IDF censor was right to prohibit publication of the photos in Israel. We can ponder the effectiveness of such a measure in a world of social media and information sharing, but no one has ever regretted damage that was not caused. While it is unclear how successful the censorship will be, there is no question that the operation was clearly necessary for the country’s security.

Hamas, however, is not the only one capable of playing this game. Mere minutes after the terrorist group released the photos from the IDF operation, the Shin Bet security agency said it had uncovered a Hamas terror cell in Hebron that was planning massive attacks in the heart of Israel. Beyond thwarting a terrorist plot and saving lives, the goal is to tarnish Hamas and its leadership, and to show that while Israel allows fuel, goods and cash to enter Gaza, Hamas is trying to carry out terrorist attacks inside Israel.

The revelation of this terrorist plot sheds light on two other interesting details. The first is that Hamas continues to try to exploit Israel’s humanitarianism in allowing sick people to enter for medical treatment. The second and more important detail is that Hamas leaders in Gaza, not abroad, orchestrated this plot. While this may seem like semantics – because what does it matter which of two hands on the same body instigated a terrorist attack – it still illustrates two things: Hamas abroad, under the Turkey-based leadership of Sala al-Aruri, is struggling to put terrorist attacks in motion, and the group’s Gaza headquarters is trying to supplant it despite the obstacles Israel imposes.

The simultaneous publication of both these affairs is a reminder that even if things appear calm, the issues in Gaza are still bubbling underneath the surface. On Friday, like clockwork, the masses will gather along the security fence for their weekly clashes with IDF troops, and as usual these clashes have the potential to spark hostilities anew. Although both sides do not want this to happen, their actions could lead them toward an undesired conflagration. We can only hope that Israel is utilizing this lull to bolster its assets and mitigate the potential risks, thereby improving its starting position before the next round of fighting begins.