Sen. Cruz Calls for DOJ, FBI to Investigate Whether Foreign Adversaries Are Behind Gaza War Protests in US

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas on Nov. 19, 2022. Wade Vandervort/AFP via Getty Images

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has called for U.S. federal authorities to investigate whether foreign actors are promoting contentions within the United States, including recent protests over the war in Gaza taking place on U.S. college campuses and other venues around the country.

During a Wednesday, May 15 episode of his personal podcast “The Verdict,” Mr. Cruz noted a recent report by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) alleging connections between the the “Shut It Down for Palestine” (SID4P) movement and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The NCRI report specifically alleges that convenor organizations that formed the SID4P protest movement, People’s Forum, the International People’s Assembly, and ANSWER Coalition, “serve as the conduit through which CCP-affiliated entities have effectively co-opted pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S., advancing a broader anti-American, anti-democratic, and anti-capitalist agenda.”

“If you look at this report from NCRI, it details how China is spending millions upwards of potentially $100 million funding these protests that are occurring on campuses that are shutting down bridges that are shutting down airports,” Mr. Cruz said. “And you might think, okay, ‘What does China care about Hamas? What does China care about Israel?’ And the truth of the matter is they don’t, but they care about America, they care about tearing our country apart, they care about chaos and fomenting dissent and dissension that paralyzes our country.”

During the podcast episode, Mr. Cruz also noted a recent article by the New York Post alleging ties between Manolo De Los Santos, a 35-year-old New York-based activist involved in recent pro-Palestinian activism, and Cuba. Mr. De Los Santos was born in the Dominican Republic and now works with The People’s Forum.

Report Says Protest Group May Be Tied to Terrorist Group

The NCRI report also states some Western intelligence assessments indicate Samidoun, an organization that has endorsed SID4P, is connected to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The U.S. government has designated PFLP as a foreign terrorist organization.

The German government banned Samidoun from operating in the country in October.

The NCRI report derives its claims that Samidoun may be linked to PFLP from a November article in the German newspaper Deutsche Welle, which itself cites unnamed intelligence sources for the alleged PFLP connection.

NTD News reached out to Samidoun for comment on these allegations but did not receive a response by press time. The group did, however, publish a statement criticizing the German government’s decision to ban them in October.

“If the German Chancellor and his government support the genocidal war on Gaza being carried out as we speak, it can be no surprise that they also seek to criminalize the ability of Palestinians and people of conscience to act against that war, to speak out, to organize, and to express support for the Palestinian people’s drive and struggle for freedom, justice and liberation,” Samidoun’s October statement reads.

Samidoun said in October that it was committed to challenging the German government’s ban.

Cruz: DOJ and FBI Should Investigate

Mr. Cruz and 15 other Republican U.S. senators signed a letter last week, calling on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to begin investigating whether various nonprofit organizations involved in organizing protests over the war in Gaza should lose their tax-exempt status on the grounds that their activities may constitute prohibit support for terrorist organizations.

The Republican Texas senator took his calls for investigation a step further during the Wednesday podcast, urging the U.S. Department of Justice to also begin investigating these activist groups.

“The Department of Justice should be investigating this. The FBI should be investigating this,” Mr. Cruz said. “We’ve got money coming from communist China, behind these protests, behind these anti-American anti-Israel protests. We’ve got money coming from organizations that have close ties to designated terrorist organizations. And so, whether it is Hamas and Hezbollah pushing this, whether it is affiliated allies of theirs pushing this, whether it is Iran pushing this, or whether it’s Communist China pushing this, the FBI ought to be all over it.”

NTD News reached out to the SID4P convenor organizations for comment about the NCRI report and Mr. Cruz’s calls for investigation but they did not respond by press time.

NTD News also reached out for comment from Mr. De Los Santos but did not receive a response.

In addition to his calls for FBI investigations, Mr. Cruz also advocated for deporting foreign nationals engaged in certain protest activities.

“As far as I’m concerned, if you have a student on a student visa, who gets out there and is burning an American flag and chanting Death to America, you should deport him that day,” Mr. Cruz said. “We have no obligation to allow people to come on student visas, which is permissive, and it is a choice that is a discretionary choice if they are going to tear down this country.”

From NTD News