The re-election of Donald Trump as President of the United States marks a shift in US politics – from the Joe Biden administration’s hypocritical denial of US complicity in Zionist genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity to unrelenting support for all these actions.

In addition to bringing Washington’s support for all of Israel’s excesses, crimes and abuses out in the open, Trump’s return to the White House will also intensify and make the persecution of those who dare to resist white supremacy and its Zionist incarnation even more open.

Under Biden, those who opposed American-funded and facilitated Zionist genocide, from university students and officials to racial justice activists and writers, already faced threats from politicians, police harassment, baseless accusations of anti-Semitism in the media, and relentless threats from employers, university administrators, and far-right Zionist “self-defense” groups. .

And yet Trump says Biden has been “weak” in fighting “Hamas radicals” and that he would do even more to shut down anti-colonial resistance as president. On the campaign trail, he called for the expulsion of foreign nationals who support Palestinian resistance and, since elected, has nominated pro-Israel hawks to key intelligence and security posts in his government, signaling that he intends to keep his promises to crack down on anti-Zionist activists. For example, Trump named Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota who once introduced a bill cracking down on criticism of Israel for “ensuring the safety of God’s chosen people,” as his homeland security secretary.

Another indication that Trump’s second term will be marked by a new crackdown on anti-colonial and anti-racist resistance came in the form of a strategy to “fight anti-Semitism” titled “Project Esther,” drawn up by the prominent Trump-affiliated conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation .

The Heritage Foundation has been open about its intention to turn “Project Esther” into government policy under a second Trump administration. The strategy document itself – published on October 7 to mark the one-year anniversary of Hamas attacks on Israel – said it hoped “Project Esther” would provide “an opportunity for public-private partnerships when a willing administration occupies the White House”.

Created by the same minds that brought us the authoritarian, Christian nationalist”Project 2025”, “Project Esther” synchronizes the story of Queen Esther, the Jewish heroine celebrated during Purim for saving Jews in ancient Persia from extermination at the hands of the vizier Haman, with contemporary Zionist narratives of defense and victimhood to portray her as a defender of Jews against activists, academics and progressive members of Congress in the United States who oppose racism, apartheid and genocide. The strategy document, purportedly designed to be “a blueprint for countering anti-Semitism in the United States”, contains several fundamental aspects of fascist thought and practice described by Umberto Ecosuch as syncretic culture, xenophobia, a cult of heroism and anti-intellectualism.

Targeted individuals – including many black, brown and Jewish elected officials who have voiced any criticism of Israel, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer – are collectively mischaracterized as members of “Hamas Support Organizations (HSOs),” part of a “Hamas Support Network ” and equated with Purim’s villain, Haman. Through this framing, the campaign targets prominent advocates of social justice and progressive Democratic party representatives as enemies of the Jewish people, using the mythology of Queen Esther to justify their persecution and oppression.

“Project Esther” shamelessly states its goals to eliminate anti-colonial perspectives from the American education system, restrict the dissemination of related information, and limit advocates’ access to American society, the economy, and Congress. It aims to prosecute alleged legal and criminal violations by “HSO” members, disrupt their communications, curtail demonstrations, and rally the Jewish community, allies, and the American public against anti-colonial resistance movements.

With terrifying rhetoric draped in patriotism and “American values” and the latest Zionist spin on reprofiling offensive aggression as “defense,” “Project Esther” institutionalizes the suppression of dissent within a flawed, fascist theoretical framework, plunging as the last bulwark against an imaginary threat of “foreign influence” and losing protectors of citizens from brown-skinned heathen hordes who have vowed to infect white American open society with an anti-capitalist agenda. Typically, “Project Esther” ideologues see themselves as heroes, as brave for a holy war, much to the tune of the Ku Klux Klan’s infamous portrayal in The birth of a nation.

Calling on “the silent majority” to “break their silence and speak” to “restore their voice and turn their words into actions to render impotent an illegal, hateful minority that threatens the soul of America” ​​by, among other charges, “corrupting our education system,” “Project Esther” is weaponizing xenophobic trends bolstered by the incoming Trump administration to threaten and divide anti-colonial movements that conscientiously oppose both Zionism and white supremacy.

Under the guise of fighting hatred and appealing to a supposedly terrorized and humiliated underclass, “Project Esther” seeks to portray anti-racist opposition to Zionist apartheid and genocide as inherently anti-Semitic. However, this exposes Zionism itself as white supremacy and a modern embodiment of anti-Semitic ideology, much like Haman in the myth of Queen Esther, who actively targets Jewish organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace and the Reform Jewish movement.

“Project Esther” criticizes what it sees as “complacency” within the American Jewish community and invokes the Zionist-produced anti-Semitic ideal of a “New Jew” who rejects traditional beliefs that interpret oppression and hardship as divine punishment for sins. This vision denigrates traditional reliance on defense as passive and weak, and instead promotes a confident, offensive approach to resistance. In line with this view, Zionists adopt the anti-Semitic notion that Jews have been responsible for their own suffering, and advocate segregation and land acquisition in a new homeland as the ultimate solution.

Notably, fear has long been used by Zionists to encourage Jewish, preferably white, immigration to Israel as a means of rebuilding the Israeli military and combating the Palestinian “demographic threat”. By reinforcing the partnership between US white supremacy and Zionist expansionism, “Project Esther” poses a serious threat to anti-colonial and justice-oriented intersectional movements across the country, on the one hand, and minorities, including Jews, on the other.

“Project Esther” vows to continue to accelerate the mobilization of Zionists and right-wing anti-Semites, now emboldened by Trump’s victory, to dismantle opposition to their racist policies through financial and academic audits, “name and shame” campaigns and “law enforcement.” “. While protecting Zionist policies and aligning with America’s white supremacy, the document — full of misinformation about “anti-Israel and anti-Zionist Jew-haters seeking to lay siege to our education system, political processes and government” — reinforces the incoming Trump administration. as well as Zionist vigilante groups such as the “Jewish Defense League” and their natural allies, American neo-Nazis, to stifle free speech and dissent.

Ultimately, campaigns like “Project Esther” manipulate Jewish historical trauma to promote white supremacy and suppress anti-colonial, anti-racist movements while encouraging the public to accept Palestinian solidarity, even when expressed by Jews, as anti-Semitic. This alignment not only stifles dissent to right-wing agendas, it also perpetuates a fascist narrative that promotes violence against those who resist oppression and casts them as an existential threat. This Zionist-white supremacist partnership poses a direct challenge to justice movements, and humanity as a whole, by using fear, propaganda and violence to undermine efforts for genuine solidarity and liberation.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.