Conspiracy Theories About Soros Aren’t Just False. They’re Anti-Semitic.
Blaming Jewish outsiders for dissent and social unrest isn’t new
By Talia Levin
On Monday, a pipe bomb was sent to the home of George Soros, the liberal billionaire philanthropist whose name has become a part of conspiracy theories around the world. Investigators have concluded that the pipe bomb was probably hand-delivered, and it was “proactively detonated” by a bomb squad without causing injury to anyone at Soros’ home in New York’s Westchester County.
Motives for the incident remain unclear. Law enforcement authorities have suggested that the same person who sent the device to Soros was also responsible for pipe bombs later sent to former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the CNN bureau in New York.
But it’s no surprise that Soros would wind up as a target. He’s become the subject of escalating rhetoric on the right — including from President Donald Trump — that posits Soros as a nefarious force, fomenting social dissent and paying members of a migrant “caravan” that has been the subject of intense right-wing fearmongering leading up to the November midterms. And that rhetoric draws on old, and deep-rooted, anti-Semitic ideas that…
