As antisemitic attacks surge throughout the US, Jewish organizations are united in their determination to fight hate but deeply at odds about the strategy recommended by former President Donald Trump. Recent episodes include the killing of two Israeli diplomatic officials in Washington, Molotov cocktail attacks on an event in Colorado, and increasing tensions on campuses.
Trump-supporting think tank Heritage Foundation has launched “Project Esther,” a contentious proposal to combat antisemitism by taking action against what it terms “anti-Israel,” “anti-Zionist,” or “pro-Palestinian” communities. The proposal identifies various university organizations as being part of a “Hamas support network” and suggests firing professors, banning and expelling foreign students, and slashing funding to universities.
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which is protesting Israel’s behavior in Gaza, is mentioned in the plan. JVP Director Stefanie Fox criticized the project as a political instrument to further Trump’s MAGA agenda and referred to its allegations as “paranoid” and “laughable.
Opposition has mounted against the Nexus Project, an organization created to combat antisemitism without compromising free speech. Nexus’s Kevin Rachlin slammed Project Esther’s sweeping condemnation of universities and cautioned it overlooks right-wing antisemitism.
Writer Eric Alterman stated young American Jews are increasingly polarized in their attitudes toward Israel, especially following the Gaza war, finding themselves between traditional allegiance and human rights issues.
Ten major Jewish groups signed a letter condemning Trump’s approach as a “false choice” between democracy and Jewish security. They argued that democratic institutions and universities have traditionally allowed for Jewish flourishing in the US.
Rabbi David Saperstein, one of the signatories to the letter, agreed that Trump aimed to combat antisemitism but cautioned that singling out academia and the judiciary corrodes the very freedoms which have shielded American Jewry for centuries.
