New Delhi: Global commentators have taken note of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) poster of billionaire philanthropist, George Soros as a puppeteer, with purported strings controlling Congress leader and MP, Rahul Gandhi.
The poster was noted and attacked as downright anti-Semitic. Editor-in-chief of the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, Esther Solomon, termed the poster as “fascinating, repulsive, grotesque”. She wrote in a post, “Modi’s BJP, the biggest political party in the world, using an image of Soros the puppeteer, a key viral far-right antisemitic meme. Fascinating, repulsive, grotesque. And no, don’t expect Israel’s far-right government to object. Netanyahu’s ministers love this stuff.”
Solomon is probably referring to meetings that Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu held with Elon Musk last month, who has been criticised for adopting several slogans and tropes from the White supremacist playbook. Netanyahu is also regarded as amongst Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s friends, with both leaders often making a point to display personal ties.
In a sharp comment, Professor of International Relations in Brisbane’s Griffith Asia Institute and also Honorary Fellow, Australia India Institute, Dr. Ian Hall said on X, “This might play well in India (and perhaps also on this platform) but elsewhere this looks really ugly and straightforwardly antisemitic.”
Gideon Rachman, author and chief foreign affairs commentator for London-based The Financial Times chimed in with Hall and said, it was “depressing how they adopt some of the ugliest and nastiest aspects of the West with such enthusiasm.”
The response has been sharp and the BJP’s social media efforts have drawn attention to a well-known anti-Semitic symbol deployed to insult the Congress leader.
Puppeteer as anti-Semitic signalling
This is for a reason, which came to the fore when in 2021, Fox News removed the George Soros as puppet meme, which was posted on its social media accounts, including Facebook and Instagram, as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) complained that it “conjures up long-standing antisemitic tropes”. ADL is a New York-based NGO that defines itself as one that works “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and secure justice and fair treatment to all”.
Nazi era anti-semitic posters depicting a Jewish villain as puppeteer controlling everything. Source: antisemitism.org.uk
The meme portrayed the 92-year-old Jewish financier, who is often the subject of far-right conspiracy theories, as pulling the strings of two donkeys representing the Democratic Party, efforts that were stoking lawlessness and chaos, according to the cartoon.
“As we have told @FoxNews numerous times, casting a Jewish individual as a puppet master who manipulates national events for malign purposes conjures up long-standing antisemitic tropes about Jewish power + contributes to the normalization of antisemitism,” ADL wrote, and added that “This needs to be removed.”
As we have told @FoxNews numerous times, casting a Jewish individual as a puppet master who manipulates national events for malign purposes conjures up longstanding antisemitic tropes about Jewish power + contributes to the normalization of antisemitism. This needs to be removed. pic.twitter.com/gyWTrSvNtR
— ADL (@ADL) December 15, 2021
The idea of a Jewish puppet master has been a part of a campaign to try and pin all the blame for all types of anxieties on the minority Jewish community over centuries in Europe.
George Soros is usually attacked by supporters of the BJP as leading a campaign to attack the Modi government. In shocking comments, India’s foreign minister, S. Jaishankar came under fire for terming Soros as “old, rich, opinionated and dangerous” in February, when he was reacting to Soros’ comments on PM Narendra Modi and India’s democracy and “called for a global debate on democratic norms.”