Colleges need summer 'do-over' after protests led to campus fear: Jewish student
A Jewish student at Brandeis University, Shai Goldberg-Kellman, shares how colleges need a summer do-over to figure out how to combat antisemitism and protect free speech on college campuses.
A new report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) shows a political activist group linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has played a crucial role in funding and organizing anti-Israel protests that have disrupted college campuses across the U.S. in recent weeks.
The report, published last week, highlights the activities of "seemingly grassroots activist movements," like Shut It Down for Palestine (SID4P), which was formed after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
NCRI described SID4P as an "anti-capitalist, anti-police, and anti-government protest movement [that] functions as a hybrid online/real-world network for mobilizing frequent demonstrations as well as gradually escalating direct-action campaigns targeting critical infrastructure and public spaces."
Operating under the SID4P umbrella are members of the "Singham Network," a global web of nonprofits, fiscal sponsors and alternative news sources tied to Neville Roy Singham, an American-born multimillionaire tech mogul based in Shanghai who is married to Jodie Evans, co-founder of the left-wing anti-war group Code Pink.
The Israeli flag waves at a protest encampment at the Columbia University campus in New York City, April 29, 2024. (Reuters/David Dee Delgado)
The NCRI described Singham as a "conduit" for CCP geopolitical influence.
The alternative media outlets described above have played a "central role in online mobilization and cross-platform social amplification for SID4P," the report said.
The report found that SID4P has ties to "extremist groups," including one pro-Palestinian group within the U.S. that advances "anti-American and anti-Jewish agendas."
Organizations connected to CCP foreign influence efforts are partially driving an increase in direct action, targeting infrastructure and public spaces, the report found.
Though ostensibly focused on Israel, the broader protests are part of a "well-funded initiative driving a revolutionary, anti-government, and anti-capitalist agenda, with leading organizations serving as versatile tools for foreign entities hostile to the U.S.," the report said.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital he's not surprised by the information.
"I warned the Biden Administration of the ties between the Chinese Communist Party and certain far-left organizations operating in the U.S., but they didn’t listen," Rubio said. "So, I’m not surprised by the reported ties between a pro-Hamas organization and the Chinese Communist Party given their shared anti-American, anti-Western civilization, and pro-Iran stance."
Jodie Evans, founder of Code Pink, and Neville Roy Singham, founder of ThoughtWorks,at Carnegie Hall Feb. 14, 2018, in New York City. (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for V-Day)
The seven core organizations, referred to as "Convenors," that make up SID4P are Al-Awda NY, National Students for Justice In Palestine (NSJP), Palestinian Youth Movemnet (PYM), Palestinian American Community Center NJ (PACC), the People's Forum, ANSWER Coalition and Iternational People's Assembly (IPA).
According to NCRI, the last three groups serve as the "conduit through which CCP-affiliated entities have effectively co-opted pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S. to advance a broader anti-American, anti-democratic, and anti-capitalist agenda." These Convenors, according to NCRI, have close ideological and financial ties to Singham.
The People’s Forum has played a role in organizing several anti-Israel protests since Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, when the terror group’s members killed at least 1,200 Israelis and took over 200 hostages from Southern Israel into Gaza.
Ominously, NCRI predicts that these organizations will persist in inciting unrest throughout the summer of 2024 and into the November elections.
Anti-Israel protesters gather in Washington Square Park in New York City May 3, 2024. NYU’s Palestine Solidarity Coalition hosted the demonstration. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
Liora Rez, founder and executive director of StopAntisemitism, likened the anti-Israel demonstrations to a "Trojan Horse to surreptitiously advance a destructive, authoritarian ideology that seeks to sow chaos in the U.S. and Europe under the guise of ‘social justice’ and ‘anti-colonialism.’"
"Remember, for radical Islamists, Israel is only the ‘little Satan’ and the United States is the ‘great Satan,’" Rez said, arguing the protests "are part of a pre-planned, well-funded, non-organic campaign to undermine America and Western Civilization."
Rez, whose family fled the Soviet Union, said the tactics "being used by this Chinese-linked authoritarian network remind me of the Marxist strategies my family experienced in the former Soviet Union."
"It’s no surprise that both employ hatred of Jews — the ultimate ‘other’ — to promote their ruinous doctrine," Rez said.
An anti-Israel demonstrator holds a flag on the rooftop of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University in New York April 30, 2024. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ivana Stradner, a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) who studies psyop campaigns, told Fox News Digital China has adopted Moscow's toolkit for "using covert and coercive methods to influence the U.S."
She argued that China’s influence operations have, for years, focused on building a positive image of the CCP and amplifying the message that Beijing only cares about the economy and cooperation.
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"Beijing has taken notice of Russia’s information warfare accomplishments. China has adapted its playbook for polarizing America through exploiting social divisions," Stradner said. "Beijing does not miss a chance to exploit American division over Hamas and promote far-left narratives. Beijing has already deployed a similar strategy, amplifying and promoting America’s so-called ‘systemic racism,’ and they will do it again."
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