Why the Heritage Foundation’s Esther Project won’t solve anti-Semitism – The Forward

If you are concerned about Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s radical and illiberal agenda for a second Trump administration, then you need to carefully examine Project Esther, its playbook for combating anti-Semitism.

The Esther Project proposes a public-private plan to dismantle any national group that supports Palestinian rights – which they call the “Hamas Support Network.” The plan’s primary targets are pro-Palestinian organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine, American Muslims for Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. But this is only the beginning.

The Esther Project targets what it describes as a “much broader coalition of left-leaning progressive organizations such as the Open Society Foundations, the Tides Foundation and many others.” It calls for using tools such as anti-terrorism and anti-racketeering criminal prosecutions; deportations; public dismissals; removal of tax-exempt status; blocking of funding; and campaigns aimed at sowing discord within movements in order to “disrupt and degrade” these organizations.

This anti-Semitism plan has virtually no Jewish authors, as evidenced by interviews with the Heritage Foundation, the plan’s use of unusual phrases like “Reform Judaism” and its erroneous references to Jewish texts. (His first sentence incorrectly locates the Book of Esther in the Torah).

The authors criticize American Jews for not aligning with their views on anti-Semitism or agreeing with their proposed solutions, calling Jews “complacent” and our positions “inexplicable.” A head of the Heritage Foundation’s Anti-Semitism Task Force said in an interview that if Jewish organizations “did their job and were effective, we wouldn’t have the problem we have.”

The Esther Project has nothing to say about explicitly anti-Semitic hate groups aligned with the far right. Ditto for one of the main drivers of anti-Semitic violence in the United States: conspiracy theories regularly promoted by figures in the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump, Trump friends like Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson, and Trump himself -even.

No, its only target is pro-Palestinian organizations, which it accuses of being not only “anti-Israeli”, but “anti-Semitic and anti-American”. The plan further asserts that any organization fighting “capitalism” is also aligned with “America’s enemies abroad” and should be a target. The possibilities for guilt by association are endless and ultimately reveal the perpetrators’ true McCarthyist intentions: to dismantle any national organization they deem “un-American” under the guise of combating “threats to Jewish security.” The Esther Project demonstrates that the right no longer needs any semblance of meaningful Jewish involvement or concern for Jewish well-being to advance and expand its campaign.

It’s worth noting that some of the proposals put forward by the Esther Project reflect policies that members of Congress have attempted to advance under the Biden administration in small but significant ways, largely through the efforts of Congressional Republicans. Since October 7, Palestinians, anti-war activists, progressive groups and donors in the United States have suffered unprecedented levels of harassment and repression, often under the guise of combating anti-Semitism. Republicans have attempted to curb First Amendment rights, under the misleading guise of protecting Jews, by submitting petitions to the Treasury Department, conducting aggressive committee hearings, and proposing numerous bills to attempt to suppress the political organization of groups and institutions with which they disagree.

So far, congressional Democrats have blocked the most extreme efforts. But that will become much more difficult under the Trump administration, with Republicans controlling both houses of Congress.

American Jews must therefore begin now to denounce Project Esther for what it is: a far-right McCarthyite attack on our democratic norms and values. It will be increasingly crucial for American Jews to say unequivocally that we will not be made safer by the erosion of American democracy through Project Esther, or any other related effort that erodes constitutional rights in the name of the safety of our community.

The high levels of security and freedom Jews enjoy in the United States are due to our constitutional democracy and protection of minorities. Supporting the dismantling of these protections in the supposed name of our security would amount to cutting off our noses in disregard of our faces. Under efforts such as those proposed by Project Esther, there would be immense potential for abuse against free speech, the media, political organizations, and political opponents of all stripes. These are the kind of authoritarian conditions we saw under McCarthyism, and which would threaten the safety of Jews in this country.

The majority of American Jews, who voted against the return of MAGA, must be clear-headed: we cannot effectively resist Project 2025 while adhering to Project Esther, which presents all the disturbing excesses of Project 2025, for its supposed benefits for the Jewish community. — which the (non-Jewish) authors of the Esther Project accuse of being responsible for the current state of affairs in the face of anti-Semitism.

Resistance will demand that we defend groups facing political prosecutions under Project Esther, including Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. This is a new political moment. If we participate in the dismantling of our democracy and accept the degradation of equality under the law because the first on the chopping block are those we disagree with, we will threaten our own future. The American Jewish community and all those who care about democracy must defend the fundamental rights of free speech and dissent. In order to effectively resist authoritarianism, our policy orientations must be broad enough to include those with whom we might disagree on other issues, and principled enough to understand who our biggest opponents are.