Foreign shadow behind growing anti-Semitism, influence operations among American youth

As a record number of Jews are attacked in US institutions, including in schools and universities, Kamala Harris introduced a task force to combat “Islamophobia”, arguably to protect aggressors of violence, instead of the victims. President Biden visited Israel last month in a show of support to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Yet, in the face of the barbaric attacks on October 7 by Hamas, US policy seems to be at odds with itself, with the Secretary of State urging Israel to “put a premium on civilian protection ”. While lobbying is, sadly, a legitimate part of the US government functioning, influence operations within the establishment have caused much concern, and may be attributed at least some role in the confused stances on ongoing global issues. Google and Meta have warned the US establishment of China’s attempt at influence, according to a CFR report late last year. Over the last 3 years, the US has arrested Naval officers and professors, and even a CIA agent on charges of spying for China. The ties between the CDC and universities in China and their American funding, as well as state-enforced/monitored speech especially on X (formerly Twitter) has disappeared into non-news in the ever-accelerating information-disinformation cycles. COVID-19, however, opened a window into how deep China’s influence went in administering American citizens. Despite overwhelming evidence to the effect that Chinese laboratories in Wuhan were responsible for the initial leak of the virus, any individual stating the same or journalists digging into the story were immediately hounded and had their voices shut down on social media. Mainstream news channels like MSNBC and CNN amplified all that the CDC and Anthony Fauci said, even if it was contradictory to what they had previously said. Vaccine efficacy was constantly downgraded after questions were raised by common citizens on social media, and doctors who had cited alternative medicine such as Ivermectin were ridiculed until proven correct. In a report from February this year, the authors stated, “China’s lobbying efforts in the U.S. Congress represent a particularly insidious form of influence, aimed at shaping federal policymaking for the furtherance of the CCP’s interests and goals.” In view of the recent spurt of videos on TikTok portraying Osama bin Laden as a misunderstood leader, the platform was forced to remove hundreds of videos discussing the slain terrorist’s “Letter to America”, over two decades after the incidents of 9/11. The idea was to indoctrinate youngsters, who form a very high proportion of TikTok’s audience, with pro-Hamas propaganda, since bin Laden justifies the attacks on American civilians as “revenge”, allowed by the Quran. TikTok has spent more than USD 2.1 million this year to lobby in the United States of America and continue to hold sway over its malleable young audiences, even as US lawmakers debated over banning the platform as India had done in 2020. As pro-Palestine propaganda rages across influencer-friendly social media platforms with well-meaning audiences repeating that mush of what Hamas terrorists recorded themselves doing on October 7 this year was “Israeli propaganda” on Instagram, TikTok and similarly one-way content delivering mechanisms, some of it is effectively countered on X. This has forced the hands of mainstream publications as well as of common citizens to tone down pro-terrorist radicalism. Yet, the US State Department as well as government bureaucracies continue to function schizophrenically in the face of another West Asian destabilization. Reuters states that Qatar’s influence campaign in Washington since 2017 has pushed an additional USD 24 million into elite American hands to influence policies that affect the common American. In September this year, Richard Olson, the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan from the Obama administration pleaded guilty to improperly aiding Qatari interests in the US. Despite his treasonous activity of influencing Congress about weapons sales to foreign nations, the judge presiding over the case believed his act did not warrant jail time. A four-star Marine General, John R Allen, formerly head of the Brookings Institute, a think-tank holding sway over US policymaking, was also forced to resign last year , and was under FBI probe for aiding Qatar. Considering the opaque handling of such matters in the US, the matter was dropped by the Department of Justice earlier this year. He is said to have influenced US decisions to support Qatar over the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in regional trade rivalry. While the general denied these charges, his trip to Qatar was facilitated by the formerly mentioned Richard Olson, and a now jailed businessman Imaad Zuberi. Zuberi was jailed for foreign lobbying and obstruction of justice, among other charges. Even as some heaved a sigh of relief as University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned after she refused to acknowledge that calling for the genocide of Jews was harassment, the Presidents of Harvard and MIT who also reiterated that remain in their positions. There is some amount of public pressure on them; however, the system that place such individuals at the top of a power pyramid indoctrinating some of the brightest minds on the planet needs reexamination. The Qatari government has been the largest foreign funder of US universities and it is highly unlikely that this does not influence education in the top universities of the US. Cornell University, which has seen some of the largest amounts of Arab donations, saw a professor Russell Rickford say that the Hamas attacks on civilians in Israel were “exhilarating and energising”, before withdrawing his statement in an apparent apology. As Jewish students were seen crying and having to be barricaded in university libraries last month, pro-Palestine protests disrupted learning at these elite institutions. China, a country purportedly a threat to the US, is also one of the largest donors to American education and lobbies its government incessantly. Does foreign funding have nothing to do with unquestioning support of causes by minds young and old, recruited into government and associated agencies? Is it reasonable to believe that policymaking that affects the common American is in charge of an elite largely inculpable for allying with foreign powers at the cost of the nation itself, and likely its staunchest allies? As recent arrests show, they undoubtedly do. Yet, it remains to be seen if the great democracy is willing to investigate the rot in its cash-for-service mechanism in all its institutions proclaimed to be functioning for American citizenry. The author is a columnist at several Indian publications such as NDTV, FirstPost and CNN-News18 and also hosts a podcast on geopolitics and culture. She writes about international relations, public policy and history. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .