JTA — US President Joe Biden has awarded the United States’ top civilian honor to George Soros, the Holocaust survivor and billionaire donor to progressive and Democratic causes, along with 18 other people.
Biden’s selection of Soros, 94, to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Saturday was notable because Soros’s giving has made him a frequent target of criticism and invective from right-wingers around the world. Some of the criticism has been explicitly antisemitic or resembled age-old conspiracy theories about Jewish power.
The formal comments at the White House ceremony noted Soros’s Jewish identity, saying: “Born into a Jewish family in Hungary, George Soros escaped Nazi occupation to build a life of freedom for himself and countless others around the world.”
Biden’s decision to........