Project Esther

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." 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.

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 attacks. The project describes pro-Palestinian groups as part of a "Hamas Support Network", and aims to dismantle the pro-Palestinian movement in the US, its support at schools and universities, progressive organizations, and in Congress by labeling them as "effectively a terrorist support network". 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. 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.

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.

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.