Soros ‘distressed’ by ‘anti-Semitic’ Hungary campaign

US billionaire George Soros hits back at a Hungarian government anti-immigration poster and media campaign that he says uses “anti-Semitic” imagery.

“I am distressed by the current Hungarian regime’s use of anti-Semitic imagery as part of its deliberate disinformation campaign,” the 86-year-old says in a rare statement.

The posters show a large picture of the Hungarian-born Jewish emigre laughing, alongside the text: “Let’s not let Soros have the last laugh,” a reference to government claims that Soros wants to force Hungary to allow in migrants.

Since the posters appeared on billboards and at public spaces around the country last week, as well as on television, several incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti such as “Stinking Jew” or Stars of David daubed on them have been reported.

Hungary’s largest Jewish organization, Mazsihisz, has called on Orban to stop the campaign, with its head Andras Heisler writing to Prime Minister Viktor Orban that the “poisonous messages harm the whole of Hungary.”

Some opposition activists and citizens have also begun taking down some of the posters from billboards.

Soros says he was “heartened that together with countless fellow citizens the leadership of the Hungarian Jewish community” have spoken out.

— AFP