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 has launched an investigation into an anti-Semitic television segment attacking George Soros that aired on a federally funded Spanish-language broadcaster. 
The 15-minute segment, which 

 broadcast in May, calls the billionaire philanthropist a "multimillionaire Jew" who uses his profits to "finance anti-system [political] movements that fill his pockets."
The video resurfaced Friday, just days after a package containing an explosive device 

 at Soros' home in New York — and one day before a gunman opened fire at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, murdering 

 in what a local prosecutor described as a "terrible and unspeakable 

."
The video that aired in May "is inconsistent with our professional standards and ethics," USAGM chief John Lansing said in 

, which directs Radio and Television Martí and — 

 — aims "to promote freedom and democracy by providing the people of Cuba with objective news and information programming."


"Those deemed responsible for this production will be immediately placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into their apparent misconduct," Lansing said. "Disciplinary action appropriate under federal law may then be proposed, including the potential removal of those responsible, depending on the outcome of that investigation."

 blog first called attention to the segment, which 

 from the Radio and Television Martí website — though portions of it can still be 

. The Cuban Triangle laid out some of the most striking elements of the full segment, including calling Soros:


"George Soros has his eye on Latin America," the narrator says over an ominous score. "But Judicial Watch, a legal research group in the United States, has its eye on Soros, and on what it views as his lethal influence in undermining democracies."


Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group, has 

 in recent weeks for its own full-throated campaign against Soros. It has been 

 with ads featuring the face of the liberal Hungarian philanthropist, circled in red with a call to action: "Expose Soros!"
Fox Business recently condemned statements made by the organization's director of investigations and research, Chris Farrell, who 

. Farrell baselessly claimed that a caravan of Central American migrants is funded by the "Soros-occupied State Department."


 — which unfolded hours before Fox Business re-aired Farrell's appearance — 

 on social media prior to his attack, claiming that Jews were behind the caravan's movements.
But the Pittsburgh suspect's beliefs 

. The Anti-Defamation League and others noted that anti-Semitic incidents leaped nearly 60 percent during President Trump's first year in office. The ADL says it's the 


Not long after the Radio and Television Martí video resurfaced, Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake denounced it as 

 and called for an investigation.
"At a time when hate-filled rhetoric is having a devastating impact inside the United States, it is irresponsible for any agency of the federal government to perpetuate unfounded conspiracy theories that, far from supporting U.S. foreign policy goals, work against them," Flake said 

He also called the Television Martí program a "waste of taxpayer money" that fails to persuade — or, in many cases, even reach — its intended Cuban audience.


Radio Martí was founded in 1985 and joined five years later by its sister TV broadcaster. Its parent agency, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, received 

"The rise of anti-Semitism inside the United States is bad enough," Flake added. "American taxpayers should not be funding its dissemination."

Politics and Government News

Social Issues

Colin Dwyer

Author

A federally funded Spanish-language broadcaster called Soros -- among other things -- a "non-practicing Jewish financial speculator with flexible morals." Now, its parent agency wants answers.

U.S. agency investigates 'taxpayer-funded anti-semitism' against George Soros

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