As early as 2007, George Soros wrote a piece published by the Financial times, pointing out that in his view, the Bush administration committed a blunder in the Middle East by supporting the Israeli government in its refusal to recognize a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas.
This decision precluded any progress towards a peace settlement at a time when such progress could help avert escalation in the greater Middle East, the US billionaire stock exchange speculator wrote back then.
Of course, Israel should have conceded on every issue, according to Soros, and he writes at length in his opinion piece about why the Israelis and Americans made mistakes and why they are responsible.
He would have expected the Israeli government of the day to engage in dialogue with the terrorist organization, and although he noted that the situation between Israel and Palestine had deteriorated to the point where there was no room for negotiations, he blamed this one-sidedly on the Israelis.
In his analysis, he also pointed out that Hamas would have been divided if they had been given power in the government, given that it had a political wing and a military one, which could have led to tensions.
As soon as Hamas indicated its intention to enter into a government of national unity, the military wing kidnapped an Israeli soldier, and Hezbollah used the opportunity to stage an incursion into Israeli territory, abducting more Israeli soldiers.
George Soros described the Israeli response as disproportionate, while pointing out that in his view, Hezbollah stood its ground, gaining the admiration of the Arab masses. In his writing,
Soros tried to downplay the threat posed by Hamas, writing that a more potent danger to Israel could be posed by Iran.
Even after the Bush administration, George Soros's organization did not slow down, as following the election of Barack Obama, they saw an opportunity to weaken the pro-Israel lobby in Washington. Therefore
his organization began an ambitious project in 2009 to persuade Europe and the US to "hold Israel accountable" for violations of international law.
This large-scale plan was outlined in two leaked internal papers from the Open Society Foundations that were published online, Bloomberg pointed out. The documents disclosed how a web of grants to Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups were part of a larger strategy to influence the US congress, reporters and government officials.
