Chinese Communist Party-Linked Group Fuels Anti-Israel Protests on US Campuses, Warn Experts

The article discusses the findings of a report by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) that links a political activist group connected to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the recent spate of anti-Israel protests on college campuses in the US. The report identifies the group, Shut It Down for Palestine (SID4P), as a “hybrid online/real-world network” with ties to extremist pro-Palestinian groups in the US that advance “anti-American and anti-Jewish agendas”. The NCRI describes the group’s leader, Neville Roy Singham, as a conduit for CCP geopolitical influence and notes that alternative media outlets associated with SID4P have played a central role in online mobilisation and cross-platform social amplification. The report suggests that organisations connected to CCP foreign influence efforts are driving an increase in direct action targeting infrastructure and public spaces, and argues that these initiatives serve as versatile tools for foreign entities hostile to the US. Liora Rez, founder and executive director of StopAntisemitism, compares the anti-Israel demonstrations to a Trojan horse aimed at advancing a destructive, authoritarian ideology that seeks to sow chaos in the US and Europe under the guise of social justice and anti-colonialism. Rez argues that the tactics being used by this Chinese-linked authoritarian network remind her of the Marxist strategies her family experienced in the former Soviet Union, and warns that China’s influence operations have focused on building a positive image of the CCP and amplifying messages that Beijing only cares about the economy and cooperation. Stradner, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, also warns that Beijing has adapted its playbook for polarising America through exploiting social divisions and promoting far-left narratives, and notes that Beijing has already deployed a similar strategy, amplifying and promoting America’s so-called’systemic racism’. The NCRI predicts that these organisations will continue to incite unrest throughout the summer of 2024 and into the November elections.