The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today issued a special report on the Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther, which is designed to block the growing anti-genocide, and pro-Palestine movement by weaponizing “anti-Palestinian racism and the concept that speech critical of Israel is criminal.”
Crafted by the Heritage Foundation, the Project targets such a vast array of voices critical of Israel’s genocide that a New York Times op-ed on its architects was titled “The Trump-Supporting Christians Accusing Jews of Antisemitism.”
SEE: Project Esther: The Heritage Foundation’s Anti-Palestinian Racist Roadmap to Support Genocide While Erasing Its Progressive Political Opposition at Home
SEE ALSO: The Trump-Supporting Christians Accusing Jews of Antisemitism
CAIR’s analysis states in part:
“The Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther weaponizes both its architects’ anti-Palestinian racism and the concept that speech critical of Israel is criminal.
“At the very least, Project Esther’s architects hope that voices supporting basic international humanitarian ideals–access to food, water, shelter, freedom from indiscriminate detention or murder, freedom from occupation, apartheid, and genocide in accordance with international law–for Palestinians become associated with terrorism in the mind of the general public. Ideally, such voices will face criminal punishment or be deported.
“Opposing antisemitic hate is The Heritage Foundation’s public justification for this project. This is an appealing and worthy effort. An array of organizations representing mainstream American Jewry, progressive causes, and Palestinian dignity have demonstrated the project aims to destroy and criminalize political opposition wearing a mask of the appealing and worthy effort.”
Later, in his conclusion about Project Esther, Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor writes:
“If rule of law, due process, and the freedoms of speech, press, and peaceful protest are essential pillars of a healthy democracy then Project Esther threatens all. Its architects wrap their anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, and hate for progressives in a shroud and proceed to assert they anyone who does not hold the correct viewpoint should be silenced, subjected to government harassment, and charged with crimes. This extremism has had the effect of causing groups with very different viewpoints on Israel’s policies of apartheid, occupation, and genocide to reject it.”
SEE: The Group Behind Project 2025 has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement
SEE ALSO: Heritage Foundation struggles to find Partners in Fight Against Antisemitism
Earlier this year, CAIR released its 2025 Civil Rights Report “Unconstitutional Crackdowns,” which reveals that Islamophobia continues to be at an all-time high across the country. CAIR said viewpoint discrimination against those speaking out against genocide and apartheid was a key factor in many cases.
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CONTACT: CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com