The architects of Project 2025 at the conservative Heritage Foundation have drafted a plan to break the pro-Palestinian movement in the U.S., in anticipation of a victory by Donald Trump victory in next week’s presidential election.
The plan, dubbed “Project Esther,” casts pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S. as members of a global conspiracy aligned with designated terrorist organizations. As part of a so-called “Hamas Support Network,” these protesters receive “indispensable support of a vast network of activists and funders with a much more ambitious, insidious goal—the destruction of capitalism and democracy,” Project Esther’s authors allege.
This conspiratorial framing is part of a legal strategy to suppress speech favorable to Palestinians or critical of the U.S.-Israel relationship, by employing counterterrorism laws to suppress what would otherwise be protected speech, legal experts told Drop Site News.
A demonstrator argues with police officers during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington, D.C. / Source: Probal Rashid / LightRocket via Getty Images
Dylan Saba, a staff attorney at the legal advocacy organization Palestine Legal, said the invention of concepts like the “Hamas Support Network” or “Hamas Supporting Organizations,” another term that the authors use to describe pro-Palestinian activist groups, is intended to construct a narrative justifying the use of counterterrorism and sanctions laws to do suppress the First Amendment rights of individuals involved in the pro-Palestine movement, along with their funders and supporters. “They need to make a claim that these organizations are being directed and controlled by Hamas, which they’re not,” Saba said. “So their claim now is that these organizations are effectively serving as a propaganda wing for designated terrorist organizations.”
To achieve its goals, Project Esther proposes the use of counterterrorism and hate speech laws, as well as immigration measures, including the deportation of students and other individuals in the United States on foreign visas for taking part in pro-Palestinian activities. It also advocates deploying the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a law placing disclosure obligations on parties representing foreign interests, against organizations that the report’s authors imply are funded and directed from abroad.
In addition, the document also suggests using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, to help construct prosecutions against individuals and organizations in the movement. The RICO act was originally created to fight organized crime in the U.S., and particularly mafia groups.
Project Esther’s authors envision their campaign unfolding in a series of stages: first, the purging of “propaganda” from school curricula, followed by an intimidation campaign to dissuade students from joining demonstrations, and restrictions on social media communication, gatherings, and other forms of coordination between pro-Palestinian groups. The end of the process leads to a moment when both the U.S. public and a “preponderance of Jewish community perceives HSOs”—short for Hamas Support Organizations—“as a threat to their safety.”
These steps, Project Esther’s authors pledge, will break the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States “within 12 to 24 months.”
Many of the tactics Project Esther proposes represent an escalation of current practices rather than a wholesale departure, legal experts said. Authorities brought charges under the RICO act, for example, against demonstrators protesting against a police training facility in Georgia last year. And only weeks ago, the Biden administration designated Samidoun, a Palestinian prisoner solidarity group, as a terrorist organization.
“They’re not making up new tactics. They’re just talking about comprehensive, deliberate and better resourced types of attacks,” said Diala Shamas, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “This is about equating pro-Palestinian groups with a foreign terrorist organization, which is a tried and true tactic that has used for a very long time. All you need to do is try and paint a nebulous connection with Hamas, and then invoke these expansive laws.”
The document targets several groups, including George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, the Tides Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, whom the report blames for providing “financial resources and other material support such as equipment, training, and advice and consulting services,” to supporters of the Palestinian cause. The document also tags National Students for Justice in Palestine, American Muslims for Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace as key players in the Hamas Support Network.
“People have the right under the First Amendment to express political views, associate with each other, and criticize the U.S. government,” Saba added. “If you find that politically threatening and dislike it, you need to come up with a way to do an end-run around the First Amendment. The end -run that they have crafted for themselves are counterterrorism and material support laws.”
The architects of Project Esther include conservative organizations like In Defense of Christians, the Family Research Council, the Philos Project, the America First Policy Institute, Coalition for Jewish Values, Concerned Women of America, the Latino Coalition for Israel, National Association of Scholars, Regent University, and The Steamboat Institute.
Project Esther is framed around the important goal of fighting antisemitism, even taking its name from a Persian queen reputed to have saved Jewish subjects in the Hebrew Bible.
Yet it makes no mention of right-wing antisemitism, which is often grounded on direct racial stereotypes and overt hostility to Jewish people, and appears concerned instead with combatting “internal political pressure to compel the United States government to change its long-standing policy of support for Israel,” a policy change that the report’s authors deem antisemitic.
Support among Jewish American organizations for Project Esther’s proposals appears to be limited. Many Jewish organizations that were listed initially as supporting Project Esther have distanced themselves from the document following its release, Jewish Insider reported, citing the politically partisan character of the project. Despite these setbacks, Project Esther represents a concrete statement of intent from a major conservative think tank enmeshed with a potential future presidential administration.
“Our intent is to organize and guide all willing and able partners in a coordinated effort that employs all available resources to combat the scourge of antisemitism in the United States,” the report states, adding that it hopes, “this effort will represent an opportunity for public–private partnership when a willing administration occupies the White House.”
By RYAN GRIM AND MURTAZA HUSSAIN
OCT 29, 2024