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 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.

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.

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."

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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.

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.

"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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Palestinians in Israel demand refugee return on 'Nakba' anniversary

Thousands of flag-waving Palestinians marched in northern Israel on Tuesday to commemorate the flight and forced flight of Palestinians during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, and to demand the right of refugees to return.

Many of the about 3,000 people also called for an end to the war in Gaza as they took part in the march near the city of Haifa marking the "Nakba", or "catastrophe", when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven out during the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's creation.

Many held up Palestinian flags and wore keffiyeh head scarves during the annual Return March, a rare Palestinian demonstration permitted to go ahead in Israel as the war in the Gaza Strip rages on.

Many clutched water bottles, and some pushed strollers, as they marched along a dirt path. One person held aloft half a watermelon, which became a Palestinian symbol after Israeli bans on the flag because of its red, green and black colours. Others called for Palestinians to be freed from Israeli occupation.

"This is part of our liberation," said Fidaa Shehadeh, coordinator of the Women Against Weapons Coalition and former member of the Lydd Municipality Council. "It's not only about ending the occupation but also about allowing all refugees the ability to return to the homeland."

Some 700,000 Palestinians left or were forced to flee their homes during the 1948 war. Shehadeh said her family was forcibly displaced from the coastal village of Majdal Asqalan, with some fleeing to the city of Lydd in what became Israel and others to Gaza. She considered herself an internally displaced person.

She said "refugees remain refugees" 76 years later.

Shehadeh said her uncles and aunts in Gaza, whom she said she was last able to visit in 2008 with Israeli approval, are now displaced again as they try to escape Israel's bombardment.

They do not know if or when they will be able to return to their homes, she said.

Shehadeh said she travels to the West Bank almost weekly to top up e-SIMs for her Gaza relatives so that they can remain in contact.

"Sometimes we wait for days to receive a 'good morning' message, that's how we know whoever sent it is still alive," she said.

Over 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza war, Gaza health officials say. Israel began its offensive in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas, after the Oct. 7 raid led by gunmen from the Islamist militant group in which 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 253 abducted, according to Israeli tallies.

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ARABS IN ISRAEL

Arabs make up about a fifth of Israel's population. They hold Israeli citizenship while many identify with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

Every year, participants of the march, among them descendants of Palestinians who were internally displaced during the 1948 war, visit a different village that was destroyed or depopulated by Zionist militias.

Israel rejects the Palestinian right of return as a demographic threat to a country it describes as the nation-state of the Jewish people. It has said Palestinian refugees must settle in their host countries or in a future Palestinian state.

Kareem Ali, 12, held a sign reading "My grandparents lived in Kasayir" as he marched beside his father, Hamdan, referring to one of the villages being remembered this year. The family now resides in Shefa'amr in northern Israel.

For many years, Hamdan's father, a farmer, would pass by the depopulated village and pick figs from a tree that remained, Hamdan said.

"Our memory is our power," he said.

Some Arab citizens say they have experienced increased hostility during the Gaza war, with hundreds facing criminal proceedings, disciplinary hearings and expulsions from universities or jobs, Haifa-based rights group Adalah says.

Israeli police have said they are combating incitement to violence.

BADIL, a Bethlehem-based organisation advocating for refugee rights, estimated that by the end of 2021 some 65% of 14 million Palestinians globally were forcibly displaced persons, including

refugees and citizens of Israel who were internally displaced.

Some 5.9 million people are registered with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Most people in Gaza are refugees.

Protests around the world commemorate 76th anniversary of the Nakba and call for a cease-fire in Gaza

Protests commemorating the upcoming 76th anniversary of the Nakba and calling for a cease-fire in Gaza were seen around the world this weekend.

The “Nakba,” which means “catastrophe” in Arabic, refers to the forced removal of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians from their homes in preparation for the founding of Israel in 1948. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, some Jewish militias massacred Palestinian civilians, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, and hundreds of thousands of them were forced to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. Although the Nakba is not believed to have happened in one day, it's widely commemorated on May 15.

This year, the Nakba anniversary comes amid Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 35,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. Israel launched its assault on Gaza following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 250 others taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli officials.

Last week, the Israeli army ignored U.S. warnings and ordered around 100,000 people to evacuate Rafah, where many of those who live in Gaza have been displaced over seven months of war. Palestinians who have been forced from their homes fear they are being permanently expelled from their land, just like many of their relatives were in 1948.

Over the weekend, crowds gathered in cities around the world, including in the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland. Protesters marched with Palestinian flags and signs calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, as well as for displaced Palestinians’ right to return to their homes.

Additional protests in more countries, like Wales, Germany and Belgium, are planned for this week.

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U.S.

In Brooklyn, New York, hundreds of people gathered at the Barclays Center on Saturday to call for an end to what many believe is a genocide in Gaza, as well as to call on the U.S. to stop sending weapons to Israel.

The U.S. is still sending weapons to Israel despite stopping an arms shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs to the country last week over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans for a full-scale invasion of Rafah.

Protesters chanted, "We want justice. You know how? Stop bombing Rafah now." Some brought drums, which they played along with protest chants.

New York City Police Department officers in riot gear were seen closing in on protesters at one point and arresting them. More than 160 people were taken into custody over the course of the protest, according to the NYPD.

Hamed Yaghi and Souad Yaghi, a brother and sister from Connecticut, came to the Brooklyn protest to honor the victims of the Nakba, which they say not many people know about.

"We hope that everyone that sees the protest tries to research the history of Palestine," 20-year-old Hamed Yaghi told NBC News.

Elsewhere in New York, protesters blocked traffic on the Manhattan Bridge on Saturday.

In Seattle, protesters gathered to commemorate the Nakba at Westlake Park. In videos circulating online, protesters are heard chanting, "Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go."

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U.K.

Protesters were seen in multiple cities in the United Kingdom on Saturday, including Bristol and London.

In Bristol, protesters carried signs that read, "Free Palestine."

Protesters wearing and waving Palestinian flags also gathered in Northamptonshire on Saturday.

Another protest commemorating the 76th anniversary of the Nakba is planned in central London this Saturday.

Canada

Hundreds of protesters could be seen in Montreal at Westmount Square on Saturday calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

A few protesters held a banner that read, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

A large gathering of protesters was also seen in Toronto near the U.S. Consulate.

Australia

On Sunday, protesters gathered in Melbourne at State Library Victoria.

 

One protester held a sign in support of health care workers in Gaza that read, "YOU ARE NOT ALONE."

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The Netherlands

In Amsterdam, protesters held a large Palestinian flag in the city center, video posted on social media showed.

"10.000 against the settler colonial state and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine," one protester wrote in a caption on X accompanying the video.

New Zealand

Supporters of Palestinians were seen in New Plymouth on Sunday carrying a sign that read, "STOP THE GENOCIDE."

Also on Sunday in Auckland, protesters gathered at Aotea Square with instruments including drums and saxophones called for a "free Palestine."

Ireland

A small group of protesters in Fingal chanted "Free, free Palestine" over the weekend in a video shared by local politician John Burtchaell.

One protester held a sign that read, “Hands off Rafah.”