Last week, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that, British authorities were examining allegations that Chinese-linked funding helped support Code Pink’s pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London. The report was quoted in the Israeli press, too, but anyone who has been following the issue in the United States will not have been surprised by this latest development.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers have intensified their scrutiny of foreign funding of U.S. nonprofits, particularly organizations involved in left-wing political activism. But it’s not only the Republicans that are after them. Earlier this month, the Attorney General of the State of California, Rob Bonta, a Democrat, ordered Arc of Justice – one of the main funders of anti-Israel activity across the United States and which has ties to Code Pink   see more below), to cease operating in the state after the nonprofit failed to submit required filings for three consecutive years. At the same time, a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives which had been looking into the abuse by foreign actors of nonprofits that are exempt from paying tax, recently approved legislation which is said would increase scrutiny of such organizations.

As Shomrim reported back in March, when the war between the United States and Iran, codenamed Operation Epic Fury, broke out there were almost instantaneous demonstrations in the streets of Washington, under the banner “Not to war in Iran.” Within two days similar protests were organized in dozens more cities. While these demonstrations may have appeared at first glance to be spontaneous anti-war protests, these protests were organized by a network of activist groups whose funding have since drawn scrutiny from journalists and members of Congress. At the heart of these organizations is Neville Roy Singham, a 72-year-old American tech businessman who now lives in Shanghai. According to a 2023 report in the New York Times, Singham uses a network of philanthropic organizations and companies in the United States to spend millions of dollars supporting far-left groups and media outlets – in order to promote a narrative that suits Beijing’s interests. In response to the investigation, Singham denied working for the Chinese government. 

Singham’s influence has been especially keenly felt in relation to the abovementioned Code Pink, which defines itself as a feminist organization dedicated to fighting for human rights. One of the cofounders of Code Pink, activist Jodie Evans, married Singham in 2017; he quickly became one of the key donors to her organization. According to the New York Times investigation, Code Pink’s public position on China shifted after Evans and Singham became a couple: the organization, which had previously criticized Beijing’s human rights record, increasingly defended Chinese government policies. At the same time, Evans also began speaking out on behalf of Iran. In 2019, for example, Code Pink members visited Iran, and met with then foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Today, too, Evans’ account on X includes posts calling for the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Evans did not respond to the New York Times’ requests for comment.

Congress Turns Its Attention to Foreign Funding

In its statement last month, the U.S. House of Representative’s Ways and Means Committee described Singham as “a wealthy American tech mogul with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) [who] has weaponized America’s nonprofit sector by funding nonprofits that are engaged in sowing chaos and division in communities across the U.S.” The committee, which is chaired by a Republican, announced it will promote legislation forcing organizations which receive foreign funding to reveal the source of the money. Another part of the legislation aims to heavily sanction nonprofit organizations which received foreign funding that was subsequently spent on patently political issues. Democratic members of the committee opposed these measures.

While the congressional push has been largely Republican-led, scrutiny of Code Pink’s funding network has not fallen entirely along partisan lines. As mentioned, earlier this month California Attorney General Rob Bonta – a member of the Democratic Party – ordered an end to the activities of a nonprofit called the Arc of Justice (formerly known as the Benjamin Fund Inc), which was run by Code Pink cofounder Medea Benjamin. Arc of Justice is one of the most generous donors to Code Pink; according to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records, it gave the organization more than $2.2 million between 2009 and 2022.

The California order was issued after Arc of Justice failed to submit taxes for three consecutive years. According to its most recent publicly available filing, it reported more than $51 million in assets. Because the organization subsequently failed to file required reports, its current financial position is unclear. Authorities in California, who asked the organization to provide details of its expenditures, did not get any answers. In May, a new legal entity with the same name was registered in Florida after California regulators took action against the original organization.

Despite all these developments, it is hard to gage to what extent Code Pink’s operations have been impacted. The organization maintains its social media presence, promoting various causes, although it is evident that most of its activity is, indeed, digital. In recent months, its focus went back to activities in support of Cuba and Venezuela, but it has not abandoned its anti-Israel side. For example, it issued a petition calling on The Center for Reproductive Rights to speak out against “the sexual and gendered violence Palestinian men and women face under the genocidal Israeli occupation.”

Neither Code Pink nor Medea Benjamin responded to Shomrim’s request for comment.