A project of a left-wing dark money group linked to anti-Israel protests inaccurately labeled Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire and philanthropist, as Jewish in an attempt to frame Republicans as antisemitic.
A More Perfect Union, an initiative under the San Francisco-based Tides Center, a nonprofit organization funding groups behind Hamas-sympathetic rallies following the Oct. 7 attack, published an article earlier this year declaring that critics attack “wealthy Jewish philanthropists” such as Wyss and George Soros, a Holocaust survivor, as “part of a larger effort to paint wealthy Jews as sinister puppeteers.” The article focused on the term “Zuckerbucks” that the GOP has used since 2020 to refer to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s grants to election agencies that they argue promoted illegality.
“While the term may seem harmless, it has a dark side — as well as implications for Jews and for American democracy,” Sofi Hersher Andorsky, vice president for strategy and communications at A More Perfect Union, wrote in the article. “Even though Zuckerberg stopped providing donations to election offices, ‘Zuckerbucks’ has continued to resonate as a coded allusion to wealthy Jews attempting to influence elections and seize power.”
There’s just one problem: Wyss, who has come under the spotlight as lawmakers investigate foreign influence in elections, is not actually Jewish, a spokesperson for the billionaire confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
Now, a correction note is affixed to the article by Andorsky, a former Twitter, now X, employee.
“An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Hansborg Wyss is Jewish,” the correction, which misspelled Wyss’s first name, read. “A spokesman for Mr. Wyss confirmed he is not. We have corrected this article to reflect this information.”
The factual inaccuracy printed about Wyss by the dark money group ironically comes as A More Perfect Union’s parent group, the Tides Center, finances entities connected to antisemitic protests in the United States. The protests are being investigated by watchdog groups and GOP members of Congress over national security concerns.
The Tides Center sponsors the Arab Resource & Organizing Center, which helped coordinate the recent violent protest in Washington, D.C., against Israel. The Tides Center and its affiliate, the Tides Foundation, also fund a charity housing the Palestinian Youth Movement, Students for Justice in Palestine, and other anti-Israel activist hubs, tax records show. Soros is a financial backer of the Tides Center and the Tides Foundation.
“This pop-up group claims to care about democracy and Jews,” said Scott Walter, president of the conservative Capital Research Center think tank. “How ironic it’s fiscally sponsored by a massive network of Democratic-aligned ‘dark money’ that assists multiple groups supporting Hamas’s crusade against Israel.”
A More Perfect Union did not reply to a request for comment. A source close to the group told the Washington Examiner it regrets the error and had wrong information about Wyss. A spokesperson for Wyss did not say whether he is religious or not.
Wyss, 88, routes his fortune through a private foundation in D.C., which has an affiliated advocacy and lobbying arm funding left-wing causes. In recent years, Republicans have scrutinized his giving as they investigate alleged loopholes allowing foreign nationals to exert influence over elections.
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Wyss, however, insists he is above board. In 2022, the Federal Election Commission notably found that he made $119,000 in illegal political donations between 1990 and 2006. But the regulator declined to take action against Wyss, saying the statute of limitations had passed.
“The Wyss Foundation and Berger Action Fund do not support or oppose political candidates or engage in electoral activities, and complies with the rules, laws, and disclosure requirements governing their activities,” Marnee Banks, a spokeswoman for the two groups, recently told the Washington Examiner. “Any allegations to the contrary are patently false.”
