Jewish groups in US line up to oppose Trump anti-Semitism strategy
US Jewish groups are unified over the need to fight mounting anti-Semitic incidents across the country, but many are bitterly opposed to how President Donald Trump is seeking to counter the scourge.
A string of incidents has targeted Jews in the United States in recent weeks. Two Israeli embassy workers were murdered in Washington, Molotov cocktails were thrown at an event in Colorado, and tensions persist on university campuses.
The conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank, behind the "Project 2025" roadmap for radically overhauling and shrinking the government, published in October "Project Esther" -- a blueprint on combatting anti-Semitism.
The project seeks to "dismantle" so-called "anti-Israel," "anti-Zionist," or "pro-Palestinian" organizations allegedly part of a "Hamas support network" that has "infiltrated" universities including Columbia and Harvard.
The text advocates the dismissal of professors, barring some foreign students from campuses, expelling others outright, and withholding public funding from universities.
Robert Greenway, a Project Esther co-author, recently told The New York Times it was "no coincidence that we called for a series of actions to take place privately and publicly, and they are now happening."
The Heritage Foundation refused an interview request.
Stefanie Fox, director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), said "Project Esther sets out a blueprint for the Trump administration to sharpen the legal regimes that will best advance (his) 'Make America Great Again' goals."
The JVP, a Jewish organization that leads demonstrations against "genocide" in Gaza, is named in Project Esther as a member of the so-called Hamas support network.
"These assumptions are baseless, paranoid, laughable," said Fox, whose group is on the left.
- 'Weaponizing' anti-Semitism? -
Although 89 percent of the 7.2 million US Jews say they are concerned about anti-Semitism, 64 percent disapprove of Trump's efforts to combat it, according to a recent Jewish Voters Resource Center poll.
"There is anti-Semitism on those campuses... But to give the broad claim that the thrust to fight anti-Semitism is to go after higher education is just absolutely ridiculous," said Kevin Rachlin.
He is a prominent figure in the Nexus Project formed in opposition to Project Esther that seeks to counter anti-Semitism without impairing freedom of speech.
Trump's strategy "doesn't keep Jews safe." Rather, it seeks to separate the Jewish minority from others in the country and ignores right-wing anti-Semitism, Rachlin argues.
"We as Jews are safer when we're in coalition with other groups and other minorities," he said, adding that combatting anti-Semitism through education was more viable than targeting universities.
Traditional Jewish groups have aligned more with Trump's Republicans and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unlike the "majority" of American Jews, claims author Eric Alterman.
"What's happened in Gaza has been very hard for most American Jews -- particularly young American Jews -- to stomach. Young American Jews are now roughly evenly divided between supporting Israel and supporting the Palestinians," he told AFP.
Alterman added most US Jews are not anti-Zionist -- but don't like the war in Gaza or Israel's West Bank strategy.
"They're kind of caught in the middle."
Some Jewish groups warn that when Trump targets higher education purportedly combatting anti-Semitism, he is actually "weaponizing" the sensitive issue to stifle freedom of expression.
In recent weeks, ten major Jewish organizations criticized the Trump administration in a letter, saying they reject the "false choice" between "Jewish safety" and "democracy."
"There should be no doubt that anti-Semitism is rising" but access to "higher education, and strong democratic norms... have allowed American Jewry to thrive for hundreds of years," the letter states.
One of the signatories, rabbi and former ambassador for religious freedom David Saperstein, said there was "appreciation" for Trump prioritizing anti-Semitic violence and rhetoric -- but opposed the clampdown on universities, media and judges.
He added: "Ironically, they are targeting democratic institutions that have given the Jewry in America more rights, more freedom, more opportunities than we have ever known in our 2,600 years of diasporic history."
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