Project Esther

Queen Esther is a Jewish heroine from the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. In that story Esther uses her position as queen to thwart a genocidal plot against the Jews in ancient Persia.

The Heritage Foundation invokes this narrative to frame an initiative parallel to Project 2025 as a modern-day defense against perceived existential threats to Jewish communities. They draw a parallel between Esther’s courage and what they see as the need to confront antisemitism today—particularly from pro-Palestinian movements, which they label as part of a “Hamas Support Network”.

Project Esther is an initiative launched by the Heritage Foundation in October 2024, framed as a national strategy to combat antisemitism in the U.S.

The plan outlines aggressive tactics:

• Targeting universities, student groups, and progressive organizations

• Revoking visas and deporting foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian activism

• Defunding institutions and removing faculty deemed “hostile to Israel”

The Trump administration has aggressively adopted Project Esther’s blueprint as part of a broader campaign to dismantle elite universities and suppress pro-Palestinian activism.