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.