REJECT project esther.

Project Esther: Escalating Public Fear

Project Esther takes real fears in the Jewish community and falsely uses them to paint anyone who criticizes the actions of the Israeli state or government — or opposes the political ideology of Zionism, which laid the foundations for an apartheid state — as an antisemite – even those of us who are Jewish ourselves and refuse a genocide carried out in our names.

Project Esther is a blueprint to destroy any progressive social movement — starting with the movement for Palestine solidarity. The attacks are coming from multiple fronts:

The Trump administration
Congress & state legislatures
“Lawfare” firms bringing malicious lawsuits
University administrators and Board members
Right-wing groups & pundits

Project Esther’s key weapon is to get institutions to adopt a widely-discredited definition of “antisemitism” that defines nearly any criticism of the Israeli government as being antisemitic (this is known as the “IHRA definition”) — and by extension, to try to make the Jewish community fear for their safety as a result of any advocacy in defense of Palestinian human rights.

Project Esther attempts to inaccurately redefine antisemitism as primarily pro-Palestine activism. Project Esther disingenuously appropriates the histories and present realities of Jewish people as a tool in their campaign against protest and activism.

This dangerous framing doesn’t protect Jews, it protects power. It makes speaking out against those in power a grounds for firing, censorship, arrest, or deportation.

What's Happened Already

Attempting to manufacture mass fear of antisemitic violence:

Instead of allowing free expression, multiple universities have used pro-Palestinian protests as an excuse to ramp up security, surveillance, and law enforcement presence on campuses — including bringing in law enforcement to clear encampments and arrest student protestors.
University administrators have militarized their campuses, allowed repeated incidents of police violence and arrests on campus, and labeled protests as violent and antisemitic.
Universities have allowed ICE to harass and even remove students and faculty from campuses.

Making advocates, writers, and thinkers afraid for their jobs, visas, and degrees:

U.S. immigration officials are monitoring social media and labeling regular people as terrorist sympathizers if these officials deem their social posts as "antisemitic," based entirely on their perceived sympathy to Palestinian rights — and using this as grounds to revoke immigration status and benefits.
The Trump administration has threatened Columbia, Harvard, and other universities with lawsuits to force them to adopt the "IHRA definition" of antisemitism – which includes critiquing the policies of the Israeli government– or lose massive amounts of federal funding if they don't comply.
The U.S. House passed a bill to enshrine the discredited IHRA definition into Title VI of the Civil Rights Act — the "Antisemitism Awareness Act," which stifles speech on campuses by equating anti-Zionism and critique of the Israeli government with antisemitism.
Congressional committees and the Department of Justice have escalated their intimidation tactics directed at universities, directly accusing them of supporting antisemitism for permitting anti-war protests. Congress has held public hearings targeting individual professors who criticize Israeli policies in order to intimidate them and their institutions and legitimize broader crackdowns on campus dissent.
University presidents have used policies shaped by the "IHRA definition" to investigate, discipline, fire, or silence students and professors by bringing accusations of antisemitism if they criticize Israeli state policies or Zionism, (the political ideology underpinning Israeli state apartheid). These same policies have become the basis for shutting down academic symposia featuring world renowned scholars and banning Gazans from talking about their experiences surviving Israeli bombings.
Right-wing groups and lawfare organizations have filed civil lawsuits against student protesters and campus groups that support Palestinian rights, aiming to intimidate activists with legal attacks and drain their finances.

What does this mean for other social issues?

A new authoritarian playbook is being written each day by the actors carrying out Project Esther — one that will curb the dissent on other social justice issues. Here are some examples of what we're likely to see:

The government decides what is acceptable speech. Speaking up for what you believe becomes a risk – not a right.
Any solidarity with Palestine could be labeled as antisemitic and then, that label is used to pressure institutions and organizations to cut ties with groups that support Palestinian rights and punish anyone who stands with them. At several universities, faculty, including Jewish faculty, have been fired for expressing solidarity with Palestinians - even when that expression was done outside of the classroom. Trump's Health and Human Services Department launched antisemitism investigations of medical schools for allowing students to wear keffiyehs during graduation. Solidarity becomes too dangerous for some groups. Those who continue fighting the good fight are isolated and vilified. In February 2025, 43% of Middle East scholars report facing new pressures of restrictions related to research, teaching, and expression related to Gaza.
Lawsuits inaccurately alleging antisemitism become a more and more common tool to silence advocacy groups, a trend that is already well underway.
The media, nonprofit, and academic sectors lose their independence and their ability to report injustice, support dissent, and foster critical thought.
Entire areas of study are being removed from universities because the Trump administration disagrees with them — cutting off research and thinking that provide a core foundation for all social movements. When universities, professors, researchers, and experts can't be independent, entire institutions are vulnerable to political pressure and censorship.
Cutting off the legal infrastructure to defend civil and human rights allows an authoritarian crackdown on government dissent to go unchecked by the courts.