George Soros Once Blasted US, Israel For Not Embracing Hamas
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/george-soros-once-blasted-us-israel-not-embracing-hamas
In a 2007 op-ed in FT, Soros called on the Bush administration and Israel to work together with Hamas instead of refuting its authority, and installing a blockade around the Palestinian territory to reject Hamas's primary mission of establishing a Palestinian state through violent methods with Jerusalem as its capital.
"Israel, with strong US backing, refused to recognize the democratically elected Hamas government and withheld payment of the millions in taxes collected by the Israelis on its behalf," wrote Soros, suggesting the move would lead to worsening relations in the region.
"If Israel had accepted the results of the election, that might have strengthened the more moderate political wing," Soros added. "Unfortunately, the ideology of the ‘war on terror’ does not permit such subtle distinctions."
Hamas has likewise refused to acknowledge the existence of the Jewish state, which Soros said Israel should get over.
"The sticking-point is Hamas’s unwillingness to recognize the existence of Israel, but that could be made a condition for an eventual settlement rather than a precondition for negotiations," he wrote, adding that whatever the case, the US and Israel should negotiate with Hamas.