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UK probes potential Chinese funding of anti-Israel Code Pink group

Israel’s U.N. envoy says the inquiry shows that anti-Israel hostility is “not organic” and warns of foreign efforts to sow division.

Activist Jodie Evans of Code Pink speaks during a march in Washington, D.C., on July 19, 2021. Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn.
Activist Jodie Evans of Code Pink speaks during a march in Washington, D.C., on July 19, 2021. Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn.

Following a report that British authorities are investigating possible Chinese funding of the anti-Israel Progressive group Code Pink, Israel’s envoy to the United Nations in Geneva said on Sunday that this was evidence that hostility to Jews and Israel was “not organic.”

Code Pink is a far-left feminist protest group that has organized marches against Israel worldwide and in the United Kingdom, including outside Royal Air Force bases.

Evidence of foreign intervention involving Iran “and other countries should set alarm bells ringing. Western governments must wake up to attempts to inflame hatred and sow division,” Daniel Meron, Israel’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations in Geneva in Switzerland, wrote on X.

He was commenting on an article in The Telegraph from last week that said that the Home Office in London began investigating claims that China was funding anti-Israel events in the United Kingdom.

A government spokesman told the Telegraph the claims are being looked into, the paper reported, adding: “The first duty of government is to protect our national security. That is why we have brought forward some of the most robust measures to defend our country and democracy from state-backed threats. Protecting the U.K.’s democracy and democratic institutions is fundamental to our national security, and we will continue to take whatever action is necessary to safeguard them.”

On Thursday, The Telegraph reported on a separate and earlier U.S. investigation into the activities in Britain of Code Pink.

The U.S. investigation centers on Neville Roy Singham, a tech tycoon who’s donated millions of dollars to Code Pink in the United Kingdom, which is run by his wife, Jodie Evans, according to the Telegraph.

The Congressional Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. Department of Justice last month said they were examining claims that Singham had used his money to spread pro-China propaganda and advance the interests of Beijing.

The committee’s lines of inquiry include £250,000 ($338,000) in alleged payments to a company associated with Code Pink in the United Kingdom, from businesses connected to Singham, according to the Telegraph.

Luke de Pulford, of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international, cross-party alliance of parliamentarians that’s critical of Western governments’ dependence on China, welcomed the inquiry in the United Kingdom, but added: “We have to be honest—the U.K. is under siege from China and practically defenseless on the battlefield. The Communist Chinese Party is engaged in a whole-of-state effort to manipulate narratives abroad, to sow division and chaos.”

Singham denied working for or taking instructions from China, the Telegraph said. A spokesman for U.K. campaigner Suzie Gilbert, who was described as Code Pink’s contact in the United Kingdom, denied involvement in a Beijing propaganda campaign.

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