Project Esther is a national task force established by the Heritage Foundation in 2024 to combat antisemitism. Project Esther claims its goal is to “provide a blueprint to protect American Jews, counter antisemitism, and ensure security and prosperity.” ¹

Activities

Project Esther is a national task force established by the Heritage Foundation in 2024 to combat antisemitism in the United States. It has claimed to seek a coalition of “like-minded individuals” to identify what it labels as the “anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and anti-American “pro-Palestinian movement”” which it further alleges is a “Hamas Support Network (HSN)” to weaken U.S. support for the State of Israel. ¹ According to its mission statement, the project seeks to “dismantle the infrastructure that sustains the HSN and associated movements’ antisemitic violence inside the United States of America within 12 to 24 months.” ¹

Project Esther has also claimed that the “HSN” is supported by a group of “activists and funders dedicated to the destruction of capitalism and democracy,” ¹ while also “taking advantage of our open society, corrupting our education system, leveraging the American media, coopting the federal government, and relying on the American Jewish community’s complacency.” ³

Other organizations that were named by the Heritage Foundation as members of the task force included the America First Policy Institute, the Family Research Council, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, and the National Committee for Religious Freedom.  ⁴

Funding

Project Esther is a project of the Heritage Foundation, a right-of-center think tank. In 2023, the Heritage Foundation received more than $100 million in revenue. ⁵

1. “Project Esther: A National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism.” The Heritage Foundation. Accessed April 6, 2025. http://www.heritage.org/progressivism/report/project-esther-national-strategy-combat-antisemitism.
3. “Project Esther: A National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism.” The Heritage Foundation. Accessed April 6, 2025. http://www.heritage.org/progressivism/report/project-esther-national-strategy-combat-antisemitism.[/note]

   Affiliated Organizations

   According to an October 14, 2024 article published by Jewish Insider, it was claimed that several organizations named by the Heritage Foundation as being affiliated with the project have distanced themselves from the project or were never involved. The Heritage Foundation provided a list of 57 organizations and groups it claimed would be task force participants, with many of said groups denying their involvement. These include Christians United for Israel, World Jewish Congress, the Hudson Institute, the Atlantic Council, and the Republican Jewish Coalition. ² Deutch, Gabby. “Heritage Foundation struggles to find partners in fight against antisemitism.” JewishInsider, October 14, 2024. Accessed April 7, 2025. https://jewishinsider.com/2024/10/heritage-foundation-project-esther-combat-antisemitism/.

4. Deutch, Gabby. “Heritage Foundation struggles to find partners in fight against antisemitism.” JewishInsider, October 14, 2024. Accessed April 7, 2025. https://jewishinsider.com/2024/10/heritage-foundation-project-esther-combat-antisemitism/.
5.  The Heritage Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2023, Part I, Line 12.