Bill O’Reilly thinks the fact that George Soros has issues with Israel is on a par with being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. At least, that’s what he wants you to think.
During his Talking Points commentary last night, O’Reilly was obviously delighted with what he thought was hugely important news (transcript via FoxNews.com):
Soros has given about ten million dollars to groups opposed to the policies of Israel.
He has funded individuals accusing Israel of war crimes.
He has given a variety of grants to people who literally hate Israel.
It’s worth noting that O’Reilly didn’t name any of these individuals or groups. Maybe that’s because O’Reilly’s definition of “hate” doesn’t match up with mainstream America. For example, he has called Black Lives Matter a “hate group.” But 43% of Americans view the group favorably, whereas only 22% oppose it, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.
On the other hand, O’Reilly was sympathetic toward Carl Paladino, the Republican who threatened to “take out” a New York Post reporter and was caught sending racist emails. As I noted in my last post, Paladino is now the New York honorary co-chair of Donald Trump’s campaign where he has attacked Gold Star father Khizr Khan, whose war hero son was killed in Iraq, as a terrorist sympathizer.
O’Reilly’s next statements ought to make you even more suspicious:
In addition, Soros has funded investigations of individuals who are opposed to radical Islam.
People such as Pamela Geller, Frank Gaffney, Liz Cheney and Cliff May.
Describing these people as “opposed to radical Islam” is a nice way of painting them as patriots that Soros should be supporting – and papering over their extremism.
Again, what kind of “investigation” is O’Reilly referring to? Oppo research? Or the kind of Black Room ops that went on at Fox News that O’Reilly seems to have supported?
Then O’Reilly attacked Hillary Clinton for taking money from Soros.
The Clinton campaign is accepting money from Soros this year and that may present a problem for the secretary.
You may remember that Donald Trump got hammered by the media for not disavowing David Duke quickly enough.Duke, of course, a far-right hater.
But now we have a far-left individual, Soros, bent on harming Israel - America’s strongest ally in the Middle East.
I haven’t heard O’Reilly devote any Talking Points to Paladino and his coziness with Trump, have you?
Watch this preposterous comparison below, from the August 16 The O’Reilly Factor.
Sort of like the opposite of Monty Python.
Any bets that number would be less than 25%?
Israel’s foreign and domestic affairs is a legitimate concern, especially as the country keeps getting funds from these United States and it keeps flouting the rules that are supposed to go along with getting US foreign aid. If the US gave even $1 to a country that O’Reilly thinks is breaking the rules for that foreign aid, he’d have no problem screaming that all aid must be cut immediately (and probably demand the country repay every last penny). But foreign aid to Israel has been tied to the illegal Israeli government complicity in building settlements in occupied territory (to say nothing of official US policy—which even existed under Dubya—for a two-state solution that settlement building violates).
If O’Reilly really believes that tRump is going to get a sovereign nation to use its funds to build a wall that tRump wants, then Israeli foreign and domestic policy is a perfectly legal focal point for opposition.
