Advocates say Trump administration appears to be following Project Esther’s recommendations to crackdown on activism.

Project Esther is a strategy document released by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank. It claims to combat antisemitism but is largely viewed as a political playbook aimed at dismantling the US-based pro-Palestinian movement. The initiative’s goal is to “dismantle the infrastructure that sustains” what it calls the “Hamas Support Network”.

The document calls for a multi-faceted campaign against supporters of Palestinian rights, targeting them legally, politically, and financially. It explicitly identifies Arab, Muslim, and progressive Jewish organizations — along with student groups — as components of the so-called “Hamas Support Network,” a term critics say dangerously conflates advocacy with terrorism.

Project Esther proposes defunding NGOs, pursuing deportations, cutting federal support, and launching legal action against activists. Civil rights and Jewish groups warn that it weaponizes antisemitism to silence dissent, ignores white supremacist threats, and threatens free speech and protest rights.

Project Esther is part of a growing effort to suppress anticolonial and antiracist movements in the US. By branding pro-Palestine activism as a national security threat, the initiative attempts to chill dissent and reshape public discourse, raising alarm about threats to civil liberties and political expression.

Source: Al Jazeera