The suspected terrorist who shot dead two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington on Wednesday is linked to radical socialist groups that receive funding from far-left Chinese sympathizer and millionaire, Neville Singham, and his activist wife, Jodie Evans.
Elias Rodriguez, 31, who admitted to killing the couple near the Capital Jewish Museum while shouting “free, free Palestine,” was part of the broader network through his involvement with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a communist political group that has been running presidential candidates since 2008. Rodriguez also raised $240 in 2018 via a GoFundMe campaign to join the March to Fight Poverty in Washington, D.C, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Suspicious Liaisons
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Rodriguez was also earlier active in protests and rallies around Chicago in 2017 and 2018 as part of the ANSWER Coalition, another far-left socialist group. The PSL and the ANSWER Coalition are both linked to the People’s Forum, a nonprofit organization based in Manhattan that has ties to the Chinese Communist Party, primarily through financial backing from Singham, 71.
All three groups have taken part in anti-Israel demonstrations, and previous reports indicate that the People’s Forum has placed several cadres at Columbia University, which has become a major hub for such protests.
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The People’s Forum has reportedly received over $20 million in grant money from Singham, with a large portion funneled through the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, a fiscal sponsor, according to earlier reporting by The Post.
Besides, the Bronx Antiwar Coalition, another group linked to organizations within Singham’s network, publicly praised the killing of the Israeli diplomats in a post on X on Thursday.
“What Elias Rodriguez did is the highest expression of anti-Zionism,” a tweet from the group proclaimed.
The Bronx Anti-War Coalition was founded by Dee Knight, a far-left socialist and pro-China advocate who has worked with the People’s Forum, according to reports.
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Knight’s latest book, “Befriending China: People to People Peacemaking”, received advance praise from 70-year-old Jodie Evans, a prominent activist who advocates for stronger ties between the U.S. and China.
“He reveals in so many ways that China is not our enemy, but has an abundance to share with us,” wrote Evans, who has written her own book about embracing China in conjunction with Tricontental Insitute for Social Research, a Marxist think tank center funded by her husband and the Communist Party of China (CCP), according to the Network Contagion Research Institute.
Singham at the Center of Controversy
According to a report by the New Jersey-based think tank National Contagion Research Institute, Singham’s son, Nate Singham, works as a researcher at the center. “The People’s Forum… and ANSWER Coalition serve as the conduit through which CCP-affiliated entities have effectively co-opted pro-Palestinian activism in the US, advancing a broader anti-American, anti-democratic, and anti-capitalist agenda,” according to NCRI’s 2024 report, “Contagious Disruption: How CCP Influence and Radical Ideologies Threaten Critical Infrastructure and Campuses Across the United States.”
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According to public records, donations to these extremist organizations are funneled through the Progress Unity Fund, a far-left fiscal sponsor.
Singham, who is reportedly now living in Shanghai, is married to activist Jodie Evans, the founder of Code Pink—an anti-war women’s group that has lately adopted a pro-China stance.
Originally from Chicago, Singham previously served as the chairman of ThoughtWorks, an IT consulting firm he sold in 2017 for an estimated $785 million. He is known to be a socialist and a follower of Maoist ideology, and was formerly affiliated with the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, a Maoist organization, according to sources.
Meanwhile, the PSL tried to distance from Rodriguez on Thursday, saying that his “brief association” with one of their branches ended in 2017. “We reject any attempt to associate the PSL with the DC shooting. Elias Rodriguez is not a member of the PSL,” the group told The Post Thursday.
“We know of no contact with him in over 7 years. We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it.”
Claudia de la Cruz, a socialist activist from the Bronx, was listed as the first president of the People’s Forum in 2017 and ran for U.S. president in 2024 under the Party for Socialism and Liberation banner.
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During her campaign, De La Cruz raised close to $400,000. She stepped down from her leadership role at the nonprofit in 2023, according to federal records.
Ben Becker, one of the party’s founding members, is listed as a board member of Breakthrough Media—a nonprofit linked to the People’s Forum and located at the same Midtown address, according to public documents.
De La Cruz is also listed as a board member of Breakthrough Media in its 2023 federal filings.
