US Congressional committee opens investigation into CCP-linked anti-Israel group

Citing a May 2024 report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), Smith explained that his suspicion about the Forum stems from its funding and connections to Neville Roy Singham, an American expat technology mogul now living in Shanghai. Singham is allegedly closely aligned with the CCP, and the forum admitted in a 2021 X/Twitter post that it received funding from him.

The connections between TPF and Singham concerning Smith were not just financial, with the expat’s wife and CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans serving on the forum’s board, according to NCRI. Forum Executive Director Manolo De Los Santo, to whom Smith sent the letter on Thursday, was also a researcher for Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, an alleged CCP-tied foundation of which Singham is chairman of the international advisory board.

Smith said that there was nothing wrong with a tax-exempt organization getting donations, but Singham’s pro-CCP propaganda work and the forum’s own hosting of pro-CCP events and courses could indicate the group was acting as agents of a “foreign principal” as defined by the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“Using tax-exempt status to spread foreign propaganda while acting as a foreign agent is unacceptable and illegal,” wrote Smith.

The chairman emphasized that Americans have a right to free expression under the First Amendment, but speech communicating intent to commit unlawful violence was not protected, and the forum had been responsible for “an endless amount of chaos and disruption around the country.”

The Ways and Means Committee chairman gave the forum until September 18 to provide a list detailing its fiscal sponsors, any communications with Singham, and any communications between its members and foreign actors.

TPF said in a Thursday statement that it was the target of a smear campaign in an attempt to silence the organization because of its work “against genocide, defending immigrants, promoting international solidarity, and making political education accessible.

“This is a desperate attempt to silence our work and crush dissent. We will not be intimidated. This is not just an attack on The People’s Forum, but an assault on the fundamental rights of all people of conscience in the United States: The right to organize, the right to free speech, and the right to protest against injustice,” it said.

“These attacks are part of a broader, dangerous escalation against our movements and any act of dissent against the Trump administration. We are seeing a new wave of McCarthyism, where critics of US foreign policy are labeled as foreign agents.”

Smith’s investigation was born out of a July 2024 hearing on tax-exempt organizations supporting terrorist organizations, foreign adversaries, or promoting antisemitism.

He had said in his opening remarks that there was growing evidence that tax-exempt entities were fomenting the harassment of Jewish students on campus. The opaque funding of some organizations was a concern raised by several experts and congresspeople, such as Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY, 24th District).