In November 2023, just weeks after the Hamas invasion of Israel, thousands of anti-Israel protesters rallied in Washington, DC, to call for a halt to the war in Gaza.

The crowd, the largest pro-Palestinian protest in the US capital in years, chanted for an intifada and smeared red paint reminiscent of blood on concrete posts outside the White House.

While it looked like a wholly grassroots effort reflecting growing American anger over Israel’s counteroffensive following the massacre, the protest was actually backed by a financial network linked to the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, and to pro-China propaganda, according to a report released earlier this month.

The report, “CCP Influence in US pro-Palestinian Activism,” by George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, describes a propaganda network with a central role in anti-Israel protest movements in the US.

The author of the report, former FBI agent Jennifer Baker, outlined the network’s finances, anti-Israel activism, and messaging that dovetailed with positions held by the Chinese government. Baker is a retired federal agent with 25 years of experience in counterintelligence, national security, and criminal investigations.

The network centers around Neville Roy Singham, an American living in Shanghai. Singham has long had ties to China, and in 2017, sold his tech company ThoughtWorks for about $785 million.

His engagement with China strengthened following the sale as he backed US nonprofits that organize against Israel and for positions in favor of the CCP, the report said, citing previous reporting on Singham, including by the nonprofit Network Contagion Research Institute, along with publicly available documents such as nonprofit tax filings.

The New York Times reported in August 2023 that it had “tracked hundreds of millions of dollars to groups linked to Mr. Singham that mix progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points.”

“Singham works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide,” reported the broadsheet.

Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, is a prominent........

© The Times of Israel