By Barrett Holman Leak
SAN DIEGO — “Project Esther cannot be a solely ‘Jewish’ effort: It must be an American effort. Project Esther will deliberately remain American, without foreign partners, to ensure that nobody can legitimately accuse us of being under the influence of foreign powers or part of a broader foreign ‘conspiracy.’ –– The Heritage Foundation, creators of “Project 2025 and Project Esther
That is the closing paragraph of Project Esther. Project Esther, an initiative developed by The Heritage Foundation, an organization with ties to nationalist evangelical Christian groups and the author of Project 2025, is an alarming plan. The initiative, on the surface, claims to address rising antisemitism in America.
However, the entire report and especially the final paragraph, raises a red flag that should awaken the American Jewish community about potentially being used, in its pain over antisemitism and the October 7 attack on Israel, — first, by being manipulated for political purposes and then second, by being scapegoated for the damage that will be done to American society because of the implementation of Project Esther.
Reading that last paragraph is chilling. “Jewish” implies that Jewish people in the United States of America are not included in being American. As it is written, Jewish=foreign. That alone should tell the Jewish community that there is a sinister plan being implemented in the name of fighting for Jewish people against antisemitism. Foreigners are not welcome in nationalist and fascist circles.
Under Project Esther, the cause of fighting antisemitism will be used as cover to attack and take funds away from American universities and colleges, state educational programs, local schools, and online academia, among other entities. Remember how Jewish academic and intellectuals left Germany and Europe in general as Hitler, Nazism and fascism took hold? Now, they are leaving the USA for Canada. Deportations of whomever the government does not like will take place on a massive scale. All this is to be done on behalf of the American Jewish community but it must be whitewashed of Jewishness. Hmm.
It is noteworthy that Project Esther was created by the Heritage Foundation, and major Jewish organizations were not involved in its formulation. The initiative identifies a “Hamas Support Network” (HSN), a term it created to categorize various progressive groups and individuals critical of the Israeli government. Project Esther proposes measures such as deporting non-citizen activists, pressuring universities to take action against faculty and student groups, utilizing law enforcement to create “uncomfortable conditions” for protestors, and potentially labeling organizations as terrorist-affiliated to justify surveillance and criminal charges.
Project Esther does not adequately address the historical context of antisemitism or the significant threat posed by right-wing extremism. Right-wing antisemitism is often explicit, conspiratorial, and violent. It’s rooted in white nationalism and has inspired deadly attacks—from Pittsburgh to Poway to Charlottesville to Colleyville to the recent arson attack on Governor Shapiro’s home in Pennsylvania. For the far right, antisemitism is central to their worldview; Jews are often blamed for immigration, social progress, and the very idea of multiracial democracy.
This month, April 2025, while in a major department store in San Diego, a young, neatly dressed white man of about age 25 told me that “Jews control the banks” and tripled down on that antisemitic trope. That antisemitic trope falsely claims that Jews control the U.S. Federal Reserve system and international banking, and exercising massive “money power” that allegedly enables Jews to burden poor people. The omission of this critical aspect of antisemitism unveils the concern that Project Esther may not be prioritizing the most immediate and well-documented threats to Jewish safety.
Right-wing and left-wing Antisemitism
Furthermore, Project Esther does not differentiate between antisemitism from the left and the right. While both are dangerous, they manifest differently. In contrast to the explicit and violent nature of right-wing antisemitism, left-wing antisemitism is often more diffuse, arising in discussions about Israel and solidarity with Palestinians. While such solidarity can be motivated by the quest for justice, it can sometimes minimize Jewish trauma, apply double standards, or associate all Jews with oppression. It may also manifest as the erasure of Jewish identity in justice-focused conversations. Left-wing antisemitism is generally not a core tenet of left-wing ideology and is less likely to be violent or backed by systemic power.
Critics argue that Project Esther falsely implies that Jewish safety necessitates state intervention against progressives, students, and Muslims, while overlooking the significant threat from the far right. Concerns have also been raised that Project Esther may rely on antisemitic tropes that depict Jews as global manipulators or adversaries of “Western values,” narratives historically used to justify persecution and repression. The choice of the name “Project Esther” is also a question. Does it allude not only to Queen Esther’s bravery but also to the violence described at the end of the biblical story? Following that, is it the violence that is getting the focus?
The initiative is seen by some as a nationalist tool to consolidate political power by labeling progressive movements as threats and using Jewish safety as a justification for over-reaching government censorship, criminalization, and control. This approach has been criticized for potentially suppressing justice-centered movements, particularly those involving students, Muslims, and Jews who are critical of Israeli policies. There are concerns that it could exploit Jewish fear to silence others while ignoring the threat of white nationalism.
Another point of concern is the significant backing of Project Esther by evangelical Christian organizations, with limited involvement from Jewish organizations. Some Jewish organizations that were initially listed as participants have since publicly distanced themselves from the initiative. Critics argue that strategies to combat antisemitism should be developed with the input of the American Jewish community that the American government claims to want to protect.
Finally, reading this report raises the concern that Project Esther conflates criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism. Criticizing a government’s policies is distinct from bias against its people and conflating the two can undermine both democracy and Jewish values. As the saying goes, where there are two Jews, there are at least three opinions. But that is not allowed under Project Esther.
In conclusion, while Project Esther purports to be a strategy to combat antisemitism, it must be analyzed with a critical eye: examine its origins, its proposed methods, its omissions, and its political motivations, its lack of involvement from major Jewish organizations, its focus on progressive movements while downplaying right-wing extremism, its potential reliance on harmful tropes, its conflation of criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism and its implementation as part of Project 2025.
Half of Project 2025, which encompasses Project Esther, has been implemented by the Trump Administration, despite Donald Trump claiming he knows nothing about it.
I hope you will fully and carefully read Project Esther (listed below) and some other articles on it, then share your thoughts on it. May we all learn from each other about this document.
NOTES
Project Esther: A National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. The Heritage Foundation: https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/report/project-esther-national-strategy-combat-antisemitism
How Project Esther forecast Trump’s plan to silence protests, boost deportations. Axios https://www.axios.com/2025/03/25/project-esther-trump-protests-deportations
The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite. The Forward: https://forward.com/opinion/676036/antisemitism-heritage-foundation-project-esther/
Trump’s pro-Palestinian activism crackdown closely mirrors a plan from the creators of Project 2025: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/06/project-2025-project-esther-university-crackdown-plans-0027275
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Barrett Holman Leak is a freelance writer based in San Diego.