Project Esther

{{Short description|American conservative project against pro-Palestinian protests and alleged antisemitism}}

{{Infobox organization

| logo =

| purpose =

| location_city = Washington, D.C., U.S.

| publication = Project Esther: A National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism (2024)

| parent_organization = The Heritage Foundation

| established = {{Start date and age|2024|10|07}}

| services = Opposition to pro-Palestinian protests and antisemitism

| leader_title =

| leader_name = Victoria Coates

| leader_title2 =

| leader_name2 =

| website = {{Official URL}}

}}

Project Esther is a project of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., 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.

According to The New York Times, Slate, Haaretz, The Forward, and Jewish Insider, Project Esther does not address right-wing antisemitism. It has also been criticized for incorporating antisemitic tropes into its rhetoric. Project Esther broadly labels criticism of Israel as terrorism and calls for targeting universities, students, and American progressive politics and politicians.

Politico described Project Esther as "a lesser-known blueprint from the same creators of Project 2025."{{cite news |last1=Ward |first1=Myah |last2=Senter |first2=Irie |title=Trump's pro-Palestinian activism crackdown closely mirrors a plan from the creators of Project 2025 |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/06/project-2025-project-esther-university-crackdown-plans-00272750 |access-date=29 May 2025 |work=POLITICO |date=6 April 2025 |language=en}} In May 2025, The New York Times found that the second Trump administration had called for or acted upon more than half of Project Esther's proposals.

History

The Heritage Foundation launched Project Esther in October 2024; it is named after the biblical figure Esther. The plan was drafted by Victoria Coates, Robert Greenway, and Daniel Flesch following the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel. The project describes pro-Palestinian groups as part of a "Hamas Support Network",{{cite magazine |last1=Rashid |first1=Hafiz |title=Pro-Trump Project 2025 Has Sinister Plan to Crush Palestine Activism |url=https://newrepublic.com/post/187759/project-2025-plan-crush-pro-palestine-activism |magazine=The New Republic |access-date=11 January 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Cohen |first1=Mari |title=Repression of journalism under the guise of fighting antisemitism |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/12/repression-of-journalism-under-the-guise-of-fighting-antisemitism/ |website=niemanlab.org |publisher=Nieman Lab |access-date=11 January 2025}} 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".{{cite web |last1=Speri |first1=Alice |title=Trump likely to use antisemitism claims to launch crackdown on US universities |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/18/trump-universities-antisemitism |website=The Guardian |date=18 November 2024 |access-date=11 January 2025}} 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.'"

The project reportedly struggled to find Jewish organizations with which to partner, while sidelining those that do partner with it.{{cite web |last1=Deutch |first1=Gabby |title=Heritage Foundation struggles to find partners in fight against antisemitism |url=https://jewishinsider.com/2024/10/heritage-foundation-project-esther-combat-antisemitism/ |website=Jewish Insider |date=14 October 2024 |access-date=11 January 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Rabey |first1=Steve |title=Heritage Foundation's antisemitism effort ignores Jewish groups |date=14 November 2024 |url=https://baptistnews.com/article/heritage-foundations-antisemitism-effort-ignores-jewish-groups/ |publisher=Baptist News Global |access-date=11 January 2025}} 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.

Goals and tactics

As part of its plans, Project 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, Project 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 Project Esther as a guide.

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.{{cite web |last1=Rosenfeld |first1=Arno |title=Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to 'identify and target' Wikipedia editors |url=https://forward.com/news/686797/heritage-foundation-wikipedia-antisemitism/ |website=The Forward |date=7 January 2025 |access-date=11 January 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Merid |first1=Feven |title=Wikipedia’s Reluctant Resisters |url=https://www.cjr.org/the_new_gatekeepers/wikipedia-reluctant-resisters-musk-trump.php |website=Columbia Journalism Review |access-date=June 4, 2025 |date=March 13, 2025}}

The New York Times described Project 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", purge social media of alleged antisemitic content, rescind institutions' public funding, and revoke visas for and deport those who engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Project Esther accuses "America's Jewish community" of "complacency". Its sole Jewish co-chair, Ellie Cohanim, has criticized other Jewish groups combating antisemitism. 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. Project 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 local state and federal law enforcement to "generate uncomfortable conditions" to dissuade groups from protesting.

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.{{cite web |last1=Rosenfeld |first1=Arno |title=Scoop: Internal Project Esther documents describe conspiracy of Jewish 'masterminds' seeking to dismantle Western values |url=https://forward.com/news/680626/project-esther-heritage-jewish-conspiracy-antisemitism/ |website=The Forward |date=6 December 2024 |access-date=21 January 2025}} The New York Times reported its pitch materials to potential donors include an illustration of a pyramid of "progressive elites" with Soros and 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.{{Cite news |last=J.M. Baker |first=Katie |date=May 18, 2025 |title=The Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/us/project-esther-heritage-foundation-palestine.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 18, 2025 |issn=0362-4331 |quote=Project Esther exclusively focuses on antisemitism on the left, ignoring antisemitic harassment and violence from the right.}}

According to Mondoweiss, the project is intended not to combat antisemitism, but to combat political activism, particularly by the left.{{cite web |last1=Plitnick |first1=Mitchell |title=Inside Project Esther, the right wing action plan to take down the Palestine movement |url=https://mondoweiss.net/2024/11/inside-project-esther-the-right-wing-action-plan-to-take-down-the-palestine-movement/ |website=Mondoweiss |date=22 November 2024 |access-date=11 January 2025}}

According to The New York Times, Slate, Haaretz, The Forward, and Jewish Insider, Project Esther does not address right-wing antisemitism. According to Slate, Project Esther does not acknowledge or address right-wing antisemitism or white supremacy.{{cite magazine |last1=Tamkin |first1=Emily |title=The Lie Trump Is Offering Jewish Voters |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/11/trump-harris-election-jewish-voters-israel-palestine-antisemitism.html |magazine=Slate |date=4 November 2024 |access-date=11 January 2025}} 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." Haaretz has also reported that Project Esther does not address right-wing antisemitism.{{cite web |last1=Samuels |first1=Ben |title=Trump-allied Group Behind Project 2025 Unveils Plan to Crack Down on pro-Palestinian Activists, Antisemitism |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-10-22/ty-article/.premium/trump-allied-group-unveils-plan-to-crack-down-on-antisemitism-pro-palestinian-movement/00000192-b34a-d5ff-ad92-b74f9ddd0000 |website=Haaretz |access-date=11 January 2025}} 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". According to The New York Times, Project Esther head Victoria Coates "acknowledged that antisemitism was also a problem on the right", adding that the progressive groups targeted by the Project are a threat to American society, not just to Israel.

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".{{cite web |last1=Elia-Shalev |first1=Asaf |title=Realizing old tactics aren't enough, US Jewish groups use science to fight antisemitism |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/realizing-old-tactics-arent-enough-us-jewish-groups-use-science-to-fight-antisemitism/ |website=The Times of Israel |access-date=11 January 2025}}

According to Religion Dispatches and The New York Times, Project Esther is closely tied to Christian Zionism and the New Apostolic Reformation.{{cite web |last1=Lorber |first1=Ben |title=Heritage Foundation's Christian Nationalist 'Project Esther' Won't Combat Antisemitism — But It Will Weaponize Jews |url=https://religiondispatches.org/heritage-foundations-christian-nationalist-project-esther-wont-combat-antisemitism-but-it-will-weaponize-jews/ |website=Religion Dispatches |date=22 October 2024 |access-date=11 January 2025}} 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.

Reception

Inside Philanthropy wrote, "The Project Esther document is repetitive and the prose is overwrought, but given the Heritage Foundation's potential influence in a second Trump administration, it's worth taking seriously."{{cite news |last1=Matthiessen |first1=Connie |title=What Is Project Esther and What Does It Mean for Funders — and Civil Society? |url=https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/what-is-project-esther-and-what-does-it-mean-for-funders-and-civil-society |access-date=29 May 2025 |work=www.insidephilanthropy.com |date=10 December 2024}}

The Project has received support primarily from evangelical Christian organizations.{{cite web |last1=Rosenfeld |first1=Arno |title=The group behind Project 2025 has a new plan to fight antisemitism |url=https://forward.com/forward-newsletters/antisemitism-notebook/664258/the-group-behind-project-2025-has-a-new-plan-to-fight-antisemitism/ |website=The Forward |date=15 October 2024 |access-date=21 January 2025}} 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.

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". 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."

Project Esther has been criticized for incorporating antisemitic tropes into its rhetoric, and for not addressing right-wing antisemitism. The journalist Michelle Goldberg has criticized Esther for accusing progressive Jews of antisemitism.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/opinion/antisemitism-israel-palestine-esther.html |title=The Trump-Supporting Christians Accusing Jews of Antisemitism |work=The New York Times |accessdate=2025-05-20 |last1=Goldberg |first1=Michelle }} According to 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."{{cite web |last1=Rabey |first1=Steve |title=Heritage Foundation antisemitism effort recycles conspiracy theories |date=10 January 2025 |url=https://baptistnews.com/article/heritage-foundation-antisemitism-effort-recycles-conspiracy-theories/ |publisher=Baptist News Global |access-date=11 January 2025}}

An open letter from three dozen former members of Jewish groups and former Anti-Defamation League national chair Robert Sugarman criticized Project Esther, saying, "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." Executive director Stefanie Fox of Jewish Voice for Peace criticized Project 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." Fox said 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."{{cite news |title=Project Esther: NYT Details Right-Wing Plan to "Rebrand All Critics of Israel" as Hamas Supporters |work=Democracy Now! |date=19 May 2025}}{{Full citation needed|date=May 2025}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://truthout.org/articles/project-esther-is-a-mccarthy-era-blueprint-for-crushing-the-american-left/|title=Project Esther Is a McCarthy-Era Blueprint for Crushing the American Left|first=Schuyler|last=Mitchell|publisher=Truthout|date=May 23, 2025|accessdate=May 24, 2025}}

Jacobin has said Project Esther is part of a red scare against the pro-Palestinian movement and the political left.{{cite web |last1=Marcetic |first1=Branko |title=Trump Is Planning a Third Red Scare |url=https://jacobin.com/2024/11/trump-red-scare-palestine-blm |website=Jacobin |access-date=11 January 2025}}