According to Tuesday's New York Times, George Soros did not make $1 billion this year in the hedge fund business. He was off maybe $50 million. Not to worry. Although a youngish friend of mine did make $2 billion, and he doesn't press his politics on the nation. Which, of course, is exactly what Soros does. As you know, his cause is now Israel...or, rather, anti-Israel. He writes with what reads like authority on Middle East matters. But, actually, Soros is a virtual ignoramus on these issues. And his poodle, Mort Halperin, doesn't know any more than his master. (Mort was once and for a long time Henry Kissinger's poodle. But that's another story.) The two-- that is George and Mort--have attitudes, and they confuse attitudes with knowledge. So, in an article in the FT six weeks ago, Soros proclaimed the following facts: "Hamas is not monolithic. Its inner structure is little known to outsiders but, according to some reports, it has a military wing, largely directed from Damascus and beholden to its Syrian and Iranian sponsors, and a political wing that is more responsive to the needs of the Palestinian populations that elected it." Is "according to some reports" really evidence? He wrote all this to argue that Israel should respond favorably to Saudi initiatives, which the government did on its own. (Soros is not, after all, someone from whom it takes advice.) And now Hamas, from Gaza, has sent rockets into pre-1967 Israel which Israel left free and clear almost two years ago. Every political organization has differences. But this "military wing" and "political wing" stuff is palpably hooey. And, while Soros preens about his expertise, Hamas tried to abduct another Israeli soldier from Israel into Gaza. It failed. Olmert wants to keep Israel's response modest to pave the way for the Saudi program. But he won't if Hamas--whatever wing Soros thinks it is-- persists in shelling Israeli towns and kibbutzim. And poor Mahmoud Abbas says Hamas' violation of the cease-fire is a one-time "exception." And if Hamas does it again Abbas will send its leaders off to bed without dessert.