First on Fox: New study reveals 'pro-Palestinian' groups promote violence and anti-Americanism
FIRST ON FOX: Anti-American and anti-police rhetoric has increased 186% among "pro-Palestinian" groups while perpetuating a 3,000% surge in calls for violence since the October 7th attacks on Israel, a new study by Capital Research Center, "When Charities Betray America: How ‘Pro-Palestinian’ Protest Groups Promote Anti-Americanism" revealed.
The "pro-Palestinian" movement, which has gained traction on college campuses since October 7th, has become an "anti-American and anti-police movement with sharply radicalizing rhetoric that advocates terrorism and sedition on U.S. soil," Investigative Researcher Ryan Mauro revealed in the new study released today and shared first with Fox News Digital.
The study analyzed thousands of social media posts from 496 of the most active "pro-Palestinian" groups and activists. The term maintains quotation marks throughout the study because that is how the groups identify, but Capital Research Center does not "concede that such extremist groups are genuinely pursuing an agenda that would benefit innocent Palestinians." Many of the groups in question are connected to charities or nonprofits and receive federal funding.
The analysis found the "pro-Palestinian" movement has become a "permanent presence" that will "not fade when issues surrounding Israelis and Palestinians lose prominence" but evolve and expend to exploit other popular social issues – all while "inserting anti-Americanism, hatred of Israel, anti-Semitism, anti-Westernism, and anti-police bigotry into those causes’ narrative."
Capital Research Center compared posts on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Telegram in the 15-month periods before and after October 7, 2023, using 14 common keywords or phrases that express hatred of the United States, the U.S. government and U.S. law enforcement. Keywords include: American imperialism, Belly of the beast, Globalize the intifada, Pigs, Defund the police, AmeriKKKa and So-Called United States. Those keywords chosen delineated the delegitimization of U.S. domestic and foreign policy, denial of the United States’ right to exist and domestic unrest.
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"What we found was that after October 7th, there was a 3,000% increase in calls to violence, and the target of that violence in most cases is the United States and police. We found a 186% increase in the amount of anti-American rhetoric and hatred from these groups. Based on the data, I think it's clear that we can conclude safely that this isn't just a pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel movement, this is truly an anti-American and anti-police movement if you look at the organizations and the nonprofits that the movement consists of," Mauro told Fox News Digital in an interview ahead of the study's release.
In addition to the drastic increase in anti-American, anti-police and violent rhetoric, the study found a connection between anti-Israel tropes and anti-American themes.
"One of the most important things to understand is that they don't hate the United States because of Israel, they hate Israel because they hate the United States," Mauro said.
The study found that "pro-Palestinian" groups delegitimize Israel's right to exist as much as they villainize the United States' sovereignty. Both Israel and the United States are deemed imperialist "settler-colonial" states by the activist groups on social media.
"The movement’s groups and activists frequently state that, just as Israel should be destroyed and replaced by Palestine, the United States and its ‘colonial borders’ should be abolished and replaced by Turtle Island, a mythical land that some Native American traditions claim once encompassed North and Central America," the study found.
Capital Research Center also found "pro-Palestinian" groups equate U.S. law enforcement to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), referring to them collectively as "occupation forces." Mauro argues this is dangerous because "almost all of these groups and activists support violent attacks on the Israeli military."
"The increase in violent rhetoric that we're seeing is a new threat environment that Americans have to contend with. Do you want your future to look like what the Israelis have to face, where you have very frequent small attacks, maybe not on 9/ 11, but very frequent terrorist attacks, acts of violence, harassment, vandalism going on so much that it just becomes commonplace in your way of life? Is that really what we want? Because if we don't do something about this, that's what we're looking at," Mauro warned.
As anti-American and anti-police rhetoric has permeated college campuses, the study found "pro-Palestinian" groups often receive taxpayer funding.
"Of these so-called ‘pro-Palestinian’ groups that we found were actually anti-American in their rhetoric, about 30 of them were chapters on college campuses. Sometimes they're connected to nonprofit organizations, and sometimes they actually get money from the budgets of the universities, and the universities often receive taxpayer money."
"What that means is that taxpayer money can go to the schools, and then the schools use their taxpayer-funded budgets to give money out to individual groups, which include these pro-terrorism and anti-American groups, so your taxpayer money is funding a lot of the chaos that you're seeing on college campuses," Mauro added.
Among the 78 groups and 30 activists analyzed for "malicious speech in their posts," the study found that 35 were college chapters of national organizations, two of the groups operate as a "social welfare" nonprofit, 15 groups have "unknown legal status," and 26 operate as "charities."
The study advises that any charities or nonprofits linked to "pro-Palestinian" groups who support violent or anti-American, anti-police rhetoric are "at risk of adverse legal consequences, including loss of tax-exempt status."
"Yes, it's good to deport radicals. Yes, it's good to prosecute people that illegally support terrorism. But we have the equivalent of the atom bomb to dismantle this movement, and those are the IRS regulations that they are violating. If we want to cut off the fundraising stream to these guys, all we have to do is educate the people at the Treasury Department, the IRS about how to do it and which groups to go after. And very quickly, this threat could recede if we do the right things," Mauro said.
The study concludes that the "pro-Palestinian" movement would be more accurately described as "anti-American or anti-Western and, increasingly, anti-police and pro-violence." While acknowledging there are supporters of the Palestinian movement who would reject this assertion, Capital Research Center points to the consistent messaging from the movement's leadership and influencers, including about 500 top organizations and activists.