Project Esther

Project Esther is a project of the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank, that aims to suppress pro-Palestinian protests and what it classifies as antisemitism. The effort has received support from several evangelical Christian organizations but no major Jewish ones.^[1][2] It has been criticized for incorporating antisemitic tropes into its rhetoric.^[3][4] According to The New York Times, Slate, Haaretz, The Forward, and Jewish Insider, Project Esther does not address right-wing antisemitism.^{[5][6][4][1][2]} Project Esther broadly labels criticism of Israel as terrorism and calls for targeting universities, students, and American progressive politics and politicians.^[2] The New York Times found more than half of its proposals had been called for or acted upon by the second Trump administration.^[2]

History

The Heritage Foundation launched Project Esther in October 2024; it is named after the biblical figure Esther.^[2] The plan was drafted by Victoria Coates, Robert Greenway, and Daniel Flesch following the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.^[2] The project describes pro-Palestinian groups as part of a "Hamas Support Network",^[7][8] and aims to dismantle the pro-Palestinian movement in the U.S., its support at schools and universities, progressive organizations, and in Congress by labeling them as "effectively a terrorist support network".^[2][9] According to The New York Times, the plan built on efforts from summer 2024 to create a national strategy to "convince the public to perceive the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States as part of a global 'Hamas Support Network' that 'poses a threat not simply to American Jewry, but to America itself.'"^[2]

The project reportedly struggled to find Jewish organizations with which to partner, while sidelining those that do partner with it.^[1][10] Several Jewish and Christian Zionist organizations told The New York Times that they did not want to associate with the plan because its failure to focus on right-wing antisemitism was too partisan.^[2]

In January 2025, a report by The Forward revealed a leaked pitch deck the Heritage Foundation sent to Project Esther donors that included a plan to identify and target Wikipedia editors the group said were "abusing their position" by publishing allegedly antisemitic content.^[11]

As part of its plans, Esther said it would wait until a friendly presidential administration, after which "We will organize rapidly, take immediate action to 'stop the bleeding,' and achieve all objectives within two years." A New York Times report found that many of the second Trump administration's actions called for and closely matched more than half of Project Esther's proposals. In an interview with The Times, Esther's architects said that while there were "clear parallels" between its proposals and Trump administration actions, Heritage officials did not know whether the White House had used Esther as a guide.^[2]

Analysis

Analysis by The New York Times described Esther's goal as "branding a broad range of critics of Israel as 'effectively a terrorist support network,' so that they could be deported, defunded, sued, fired, expelled, ostracized and otherwise excluded from what it considered 'open society.'" It highlighted attempts to remove curriculum viewed as "Hamas support" from schools and universities, remove "supporting faculty", purging social media of alleged antisemitic content, defunding institutions of public funding, and revoking visas and deporting those who engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy.^[2]

Project Esther accuses "America's Jewish community" of "complacency", with Esther's sole Jewish co-chair, Ellie Cohanim, criticizing other Jewish groups combating antisemitism.^[2] Project Esther has sought to identify those who attend pro-Palestinian protests as engaging in "material support" for terrorism, and targeted groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine. Esther's pitch materials were first reported on by The Forward, which highlighted its goals as reforming academia by defunding institutions, denying some pro-Palestinian groups access to campuses, and removing faculty. It also supported lawfare through filing civil lawsuits and identifying foreign students for deportation, and planned to enlist help from local state and federal law enforcement to "generate uncomfortable conditions" to dissuade groups from protesting.^[2]

According to analysis by Baptist News Global, "Project Esther's own rhetoric about battling powerful Jewish 'masterminds' reinforces centuries-old conspiracy theories about Jews who have too much power and influence."^[3] The group has targeted eight "masterminds"—George Soros, Alex Soros, JB Pritzker, Angela Davis, Manolo de los Santos, Vijay Prashad, Neville Singham, and Jodie Evans—who it believes are at the center of progressive politics. The Soros family is the subject of a number of longstanding antisemitic conspiracy theories that match the language used by Project Esther.^[4] The New York Times reported its pitch materials to potential donors include an illustration of a pyramid of "progressive elites" with Jewish billionaires George Soros and Governor JB Pritzker at the top. The presentation also targeted the Tides Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund as part of an antisemitism "ecosystem", along with "aligned" politicians Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.^[2]

According to analysis by Mondoweiss, the project is intended not to combat antisemitism, but to combat political activism, particularly by the left.^[12] Jewish Voice for Peace Executive Director Stefanie Fox said on Democracy Now! that Project Esther has "absolutely nothing to do with Jewish safety, and it is intended solely to destroy the Palestinian liberation movement using tools that can then be used against all communities and movements and democracy itself."^{[13][full citation needed]} Schuyler Mitchell wrote on Truthout that Project Esther is particularly interested in finding ways to interfere with left-leaning activism, in part through the use of the RICO Act, and that its methods resemble those of McCarthyism.^[14]

According to The New York Times, Slate, Haaretz, The Forward, and Jewish Insider, Project Esther does not address right-wing antisemitism.^{[5][6][4][1][2]} According to Slate, Project Esther does not acknowledge or address right-wing antisemitism or white supremacy.^[5] According to The Forward, "Project Esther focuses exclusively on left-wing critics of Israel, ignoring the antisemitism problems from white supremacists and other far-right groups."^[4] Haaretz has also reported that Project Esther does not address right-wing antisemitism.^[6] When asked by Jewish Insider to explain why the effort did not include right-wing antisemitism, James Carafano, the head of Heritage's antisemitism operations, said "white supremacists are not my problem because white supremacists are not part of being conservative".^[1]

The Times of Israel has described Project Esther's aim as a "government crackdown on anti-Israel groups once Donald Trump returns to the White House".^[15]

According to reporting by Religion Dispatches and The New York Times, Project Esther is closely tied to Christian Zionism and the New Apostolic Reformation.^[16][2] Figures include "Luke Moon, executive director of the Philos Project, and Mario Bramnick, the president of the Latino Coalition for Israel and an evangelical adviser to Mr. Trump."^[2] The New York Times reported that a number of evangelical Christian groups involved in Project Esther had aligned themselves with conservatives in Israel who believe the Bible gives Israel the right to control occupied Palestinian territories, and that some also believe supporting Israel will hasten the end times or advance Christianity's global influence.^[2]

Reception

Support

The Project has received support primarily from evangelical Christian organizations.^[17]

Supporting organizations include the Family Research Council, Faith and Freedom Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Regent University, Independent Women's Forum, Coalition for Jewish Values, and the Steamboat Institute.^[1]

Criticism

The New York Times reported that Project Esther has been criticized for "exploiting real concerns about antisemitism" to advance "radically reshaping higher education and crushing progressive movements more generally".^[2] Jonathan Jacoby, the national director of the Nexus Project, criticized Esther for making antisemitism "no longer about ideology or politics; it's about terrorism and threats to American national security."^[2]

Esther has been criticized for incorporating antisemitic tropes into its rhetoric^[3][4] and for not addressing right-wing antisemitism.^{[5][6][4][1][2]} The journalist Michelle Goldberg has criticized Esther for accusing progressive Jews of antisemitism.^[18]

An open letter from three dozen former members of Jewish groups and former Anti-Defamation League national chair Robert Sugarman criticized Esther, warning that "a range of actors are using a purported concern about Jewish safety as a cudgel to weaken higher education, due process, checks and balances, freedom of speech and the press" and calling on Jewish leaders and institutions "to resist the exploitation of Jewish fears and publicly join with other organizations that are battling to preserve the guardrails of democracy."^[2] Jewish Voice for Peace executive director Stefanie Fox criticized Esther and Trump as "pulling straight from the authoritarian playbook, using tools of repression first against those organizing for Palestinian rights", and "in so doing, sharpening those tools for use against anyone and everyone who challenges his fascist agenda."^[2]

Jacobin has said Project Esther is part of a red scare against the pro-Palestinian movement and the political left.^[19]

See also

• Antisemitism in the United States
• Antisemitism during the Gaza war
• Project 2025
• Weaponization of antisemitism
• 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses
• New antisemitism
• Zionist antisemitism