Patrick Gaspard speaks on a Zoom call on December 1, 2020. (Twitter/Jalila Al Salman/Screenshot)
The institute has come under fire for promoting extreme causes.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
Patrick Gaspard, the president of the George Soros-funded Open Society Foundations, announced Friday that he will step down from his position, fueling speculation that he is gearing up to assume a post in the Biden administration.
Gaspard will be replaced by former British UN diplomat Mark Malloch Brown.
In a statement, Gaspard explained that he is planning to re-enter the world of politics to “continue the struggle against oppression everywhere.”
“Fundamental social change doesn’t customarily occur in a revolutionary moment,” said Gaspard. “Instead, what is needed is the partnership of activists, government, and the nonprofit sector, collaborating over time and space in unity and solidarity.”
Previously, Gaspard served as the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa under the Obama administration, the executive director of the Democratic National Committee, and national political director for Obama’s 2008 campaign.
The Open Society Foundations is a network of nonprofit organizations funded by Hungarian billionaire George Soros. The institute has come under fire for promoting extreme causes.
The foundation admitted granting at least $33 million to groups including the Organization for Black Struggle and Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment.
These groups supported and organized violent protests after the shooting deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Michael Brown.
Soros foundations fund Adalah and I’lam, two Palestinian organizations that advocate for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
I’lam was founded by Haneen Zoabi, an Arab Israeli former Knesset member. Zoabi participated in the 2010 Gaza flotilla and was later suspended from the Knesset for remarks supporting terrorism.
In 2015, Russia banned Soros-backed foundations from operating within its territory.
A statement from Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office explained, “It was found that the activity of the Open Society Foundations and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation represents a threat to the foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation and the security of the state.”
Pakistan banned Soros-affiliated foundations from operating in the country in 2017, and the organization stopped activities in Turkey in 2018.
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