“Shalom, Mahmoud,” the Trump White House declared last week On social mediacelebrating the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student at Columbia University. Immigration and customs mandatory agents arrested Halil at his doorstep when they returned home with their wife.
Khalil's lawyer took over 24 hours to find out he had been moved to an ice detention facility in Louisiana. operation By Geo Group, a private prison company.
However, the motive for the arrest was not a mystery. Halil was the lead spokesman for a protest by Colombian students against Israel's horrific war in Gaza. Pro-Israel supporters in recent weeks I'm screaming In the name of the fight against anti-Semitism, the deportation of non-citizen student activists.
Last October, the Heritage Foundation included this recommendation in Project Esther. Strong Arm Policy Restrains the movement for Palestinian rights. Like the well-known Cousin Project 2025, Esther is an absurd, authoritarian document. It calls on the Trump administration to use a variety of tactics that have been freed from the nasty history of American McCarthyism to “destroy” and “deteriorate” the pro-Palestinian defense. These range from deportation of non-citizens to collecting criminal and civil prosecutions against activists, attacks on the status of nonprofit organizations in NGOs and Freedom Foundations, and public slander campaigns against social justice leaders.
The administration's parallel efforts to repay and intimidate higher education institutions like Colombia in the name of the fight against anti-Semitism are lifted straight from the Project Ester Playbook. And while student organizers like Halil and institutions like Columbia are the first targets, they are not the last.
Project Esther release, reporter I noticed That there were few actual Jewish groups involved. Rather, it was primarily supported by who was who in the conservative Christian groups. Project Ester I'm grieving The American Jewish community is “blind and deaf” or “a distrust that cannot even acknowledge the threat.” Such accusations have been lobbed by Jewish Christians for centuries. This time only, they insist that they fight for us rather than burning us for being “distrust.”
Project Esther is named after the heroine of Esther's Bible book. This celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim, using her influence over ancient Persian kings to save the Jewish king from genocide. Certainly, one of the unsettling facts of strangers in our time is that conservative Christians push themselves forward before the fight against anti-Semitism, claiming essentially that they are better Jews than the Jews themselves.
“This is our moment. It's this time that Christians like Esther must stand up to these anti-Israel orders,” said Pastor Mario Bramnick, a leading figure in the Heritage initiative. I mentioned it last March While visiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders of the delegation.
But their motivations are often not altruistic. Most Christian Zionist leaders believe that support for Israel can help bring about an end to the Bible. “Israel is God's End Time Clock.” It was declared In a sermon, Pastor Blumnick said, “But it is also the glory of God's end time.”
The right-wing Christian Lobby Group Family Research Council, one of the first members of Heritage's anti-Semitism Task Force, featured the speakers at last year's annual meeting. It is outlined The harsh End Times prediction that two-thirds of the world's Jews will die.
“God has not yet been in Israel,” the speaker declared. Bramnick also once gave a speech. phone On Christian Zionists, he says, “Accepting our Jewish brothers and telling us about the Messianic love and the day we live in.”
Even as they claim to be vehemently opposed to anti-Semitism, many Christian Zionists seem to be wicked that their rise could be a precursor to the Second Coming. Last summer, Luke Moon, leader of another heritage task force; It helped me organize A rally against anti-Semitism in the suburbs of Colombia. The day before the meeting, Shaun Fecht, a popular Christian musician co-organizer of Moon; It can barely be included His excitement. “We're seeing this rise and the flood of anti-Semitism around the world. Yes, these are the last days,” he told his followers on a live Instagram stream. “We are one day closer to Jesus' return, and as it strengthens, we see an increase in hatred towards the Jews.”
Project Esther aims at undergraduates, but anti-Semitism continues to thrive on the right. Elon Musk and Steve Bannon are trying to turn Nazi salute into an acceptable, “sarcasm” public gesture for conservative leaders. In recent weeks, some of the nation's most popular podcasters – their support and platform have helped them win Trump's reelection – We hosted a guest Those who promote anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, Raise the alarm Even among conservative media leaders.
There certainly was a true anti-Semitism in the campus protests. Confusing It has a brand of ultraradicalism that suggests a legitimate criticism of Israel or a political immaturity faster than anti-Semitic animus. But the wealthiest people on the planet who are actively dismantling the federal government, or podcasters with an audience of tens of millions, hold much more power than faculties and professors on university campuses. It is clear where there is a greater threat to Jewish security.
When Trump declares “Shalom, Mahmoud” as him boot An attack on civil liberties, he may well incite the flames of anti-Semitism that advocates combat. Recent polls show Israeli Secretary of Defense Mike Huckabee and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses support for Israel at historic low levels of American citizens i am ready To deepen America's support.
The Christian conservatives behind Project Esther can hide their influence from sight by posting the “kosher” label on anti-democratic projects. If this deflection leads to the falsification that Jewish power plots are lurking behind the scenes, this rise in anti-Semitism is further evidence for believers that the end is approaching. That's probably the point.
Ben Rover is a senior research analyst in his fellow political research studies, focusing on white nationalism and anti-Semitism. He is co-author of “Security Through Solidarity: A Fundamental Guide to Fighting Anti-Semitism.”
