Explosive device discovered at New York home of George Soros
An explosive device was discovered at the New York home of Jewish Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros on Monday, authorities said.
Bomb squads “proactively detonated” the device, a law enforcement official told the New York Times, after it was discovered at Soros’ home in the town of Bedford in Westchester.
According to CNN, the device was a “viable pipe bomb”. Soros was not home at the time of the incident, and authorities said there was no active threat to the public.
The case was turned over to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for investigation.
“An employee of the residence opened the package, revealing what appeared to be an explosive device,” the police said in a statement, according to The Times. “The employee placed the package in a wooded area and called the Bedford police.”
Soros, a billionaire investor and Holocaust survivor born in Hungary, is accused by nationalists around the world of sponsoring protests and seeking to push a liberal, multicultural, and pro-immigration agenda.
Soros has invested tens of billions of dollars in civil society groups around the world, many of which assist migrants, through his Open Society Foundations (OSF).
He is a frequent target of right-wing conspiracy theorists, who often use anti-Semitic tropes in accusing him of pushing his political agenda.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump was accused by American liberal groups of propagating an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory after he accused Soros of funding protesters amassing in Washington against the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Soros -- who was a key supporter of Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election campaign -- has also been targeted by notable Trump supporters Rudy Giuliani and actress Roseanne Barr over tweets concerning the business magnate.
In Hungary, Soros was the target of an anti-Semitic poster campaign during Viktor Orban’s bid for the premiership. The posters, which displayed a portrait photo of the Jewish billionaire with the text “let’s not let Soros have the last laugh”, took aim at his pro-refugee and pro-immigrant stance.
After he was elected, Orban passed legislation dubbed the “Stop Soros Laws” penalizing NGOs that help migrants.
Soros has also been targeted by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in February alleged that he was behind Israeli protests that were critical of the government’s plan to deport African migrants.
