Why the Heritage Foundation’s Esther Project won’t fix antisemitism – The Forward

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, developed both Project 2025 and Project Esther, which aims to address antisemitism in the United States by dismantling the so-called “Hamas Support Network” of anti-Zionist organizations and liberal foundations. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

If you’re concerned about Project 2025, conservatives Heritage FoundationIf you think there’s a sweeping, illiberal agenda for a second Trump administration, then you need to take a hard look at this: Project Estherhandbook on combating antisemitism.

The Esther Project proposes a public-private plan to disband any local groups that support Palestinian rights – they call it the “Hamas Support Network.” The plan’s initial targets are pro-Palestinian organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine, American Muslims for Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace. But this is just the beginning.

The Esther Project has its sights set on what it describes as a much broader “coalition of the Open Society Foundations, the Tides Foundation, and many other leftist, progressive organizations.” Calls for the use of tools, including anti-terrorism and anti-extortionist criminal prosecution; exiles; public layoffs; removal of tax-exempt status; blocking of financing; and campaigns to sow discord within movements to “disrupt and humiliate” these organizations.

This plan against antisemitism There are almost no Jewish writersAs can be seen from here Interviews with Heritage Foundationthe plan uses unusual phrases such as “Reformed Judaism” and erroneous references to Jewish texts. (The first sentence incorrectly states the location of the Book of Esther in the Torah).

The authors chastise American Jews for not abiding by their view of anti-Semitism or accepting proposed solutions, calling Jews “complacent” and our position “inexplicable.” leader of the Heritage Foundation’s antisemitism working group claimed in an interview If Jewish organizations “had done their job and been effective, we wouldn’t have the problem we have now.”

The Esther Project has nothing to say about any of this. openly anti-Semitic hate groups aligned with the far right. The same goes for one of the key drivers of antisemitic violence in the United States: Conspiracy theories regularly promoted by figures in President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration, Trump’s friends like Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson, and Trump himself.

No, his only target is pro-Palestinian organizations, and he accuses them of being not only “anti-Israeli” but also “anti-Semitic and anti-American.” The plan also claims that any organization working against “capitalism” is also aligned with “America’s overseas enemies” and should be targeted. The opportunities to create guilt by association are endless and ultimately reveal the authors’ true thoughts. McCarthyite intentions: Disbanding any local organizations they deem “anti-American” under the guise of combating “threats to Jewish security.” The Esther Project demonstrates that the right no longer needs any meaningful Jewish involvement or concern for Jewish welfare to advance and expand their campaigns.

It’s worth noting that some of the proposals put forward by the Esther Project reflect policies that members of Congress are trying to advance in small but meaningful ways under the Biden administration, thanks in large part to the efforts of Congressional Republicans. Palestinians, anti-war activists, progressive groups, and funders in the United States have been subjected to unprecedented levels of harassment and oppression since October 7, often under the guise of combating antisemitism. Republicans have sought to chill First Amendment rights under the false banner of protecting Jews. Requests from the Department of Treasuryacting aggressively committee hearings and offer various invoices In their attempts to suppress the political organization of groups and institutions with which they disagree.

So far, congressional Democrats have blocked the most extreme of these efforts. But doing so will be much more difficult under the Trump administration, where Republicans control both houses of Congress.

So American Jews must now begin to call out the Esther Project for what it is: a far-right, McCarthyite attack on our democratic norms and values. It will become increasingly critical for American Jews to say publicly that we will not be made safer by the erosion of American democracy through Project Esther or related efforts to erode constitutional rights in the name of our community’s security.

The high level of security and freedom that Jews experience in the United States is due to our constitutional democracy and protections for minorities. Supporting the dismantling of these protections in the name of our so-called security would mean cutting off our noses to spite our faces. Under efforts such as the one proposed by the Esther Project, there would be enormous potential for abuse of freedom of expression, the media, political organization, and political opponents of all stripes. These are the kinds of authoritarian conditions we saw during McCarthyism, and they threaten the security of Jews in this country.

The eyes of the majority of American Jews who voted against the return of MAGA should be open: We cannot effectively resist the 2025 Project while participating in the Esther Project, which exhibits all the sinister excesses of the 2025 Project for its supposed benefits to the Jewish community. – The (non-Jewish) authors of the Esther Project blame her for the current situation regarding antisemitism.

Resistance will demand that we defend groups selected for political investigation in the Esther Project, including Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. This is a new political moment. If we contribute to the disintegration of our democracy and accept the degradation of equality before the law, because those we disagree with are butchered in the first place, we threaten our own future. The American Jewish community and anyone interested in democracy must defend fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and dissent. To effectively resist authoritarianism, our political ranks must be broad enough to include those with whom we may disagree on other issues, and principled enough to understand who our greater opponents are.