Project Esther & Chilling New Warning from DHS
The strike on Iran will expedite the administration's ability to silence dissent and detain/deport critics.
Author’s Note: If this article seems alarmist, let me mention: many legal experts believe Americans are living in an authoritarian regime today. As in, now. Talks of democratic backsliding are no longer hypothetical. Amid an unprecedented deployment of ICE agents across the country, we are now seeing a new target for detentions and deportations: anyone who disagrees with U.S.-Israeli policy regarding the Middle East. This article will explore the criminalization of dissent, but it is not a defense of antisemitism in any form. The government is intentionally working to obfuscate the true meaning of antisemitism. I believe this will lead to an unfortunate consequence: genuine cases of antisemitism lacking deserved attention amid the aggressive rhetoric against protestors, academics, and countless others who are simply exercising their First Amendment rights.
By now, most Americans have heard about Project 2025. We know that it is, at its core, a framework for hollowing out the United States government, replacing career civil servants with loyalists. It is a blueprint for completely reshaping the government so that it functions, more or less, as an authoritarian regime. The Heritage Foundation published this document in April 2023, and the current administration has already made progress on roughly 42% of the document’s objectives.
However, there is a less-talked-about follow-up document: Project Esther. Released in October 2024, it outlines a broad and concerning strategy to silence dissent under the guise of preventing antisemitic and terroristic threats. By executing the strategy proposed in this document, the Trump administration will effectively legalize the detention (and in some cases, deportation) of critics and dissenters.
The bottom line? Project Esther’s goal is to equate pro-Palestinian activism and anti-war protest with antisemitism. This is a deliberate, calculated method of falsely equating two very different topics (disagreeing with Israeli and U.S. foreign policy, versus threatening and targeting Jewish people). Let’s take a look at how the U.S. strike on Iran will help further this agenda.
U.S. Attack in Iran Bolsters the Agenda
Following the United States attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, the Department of Homeland Security has seized the opportunity to further the objectives of Project Esther. A new national security bulletin, released one day after the attack, warns of an increased “likelihood that a supporter of the Iranian regime is inspired to commit an act of violence” within the U.S. It also warns of the likelihood of “US-based individuals plotting additional attacks.” This charged and clearly premeditated language reinforces the administration’s focus on the “threats within,” providing cover for mass detentions and deportations. It is also turning the public against perceived threats with messaging such as: “If You See Something, Say Something®.”
This is where the concept of the Hamas Support Network (HSN) comes into play. Project Esther essentially “invents” the concept of HSNs, labeling everyone from university professors to pro-Palestinian donors as possible participants. This new designation provides the official justification needed to detain, deport, and most importantly, dehumanize these individuals for opposing the administration’s agenda.
In addition, the labeling of organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine as Hamas Support Organizations (HSOs) will allow the government to designate them as “terrorist-affiliated groups.” This is precisely the aim of the current administration: shift the narrative so that anyone opposing war, the callous murder of women and children, etc., is an antisemitic terrorist.
Project Esther is Unfolding Now
This is not a hypothetical situation: Project Esther is, without a doubt, being executed by the federal government at this very moment. The evidence is clear:
Student protesters at Columbia and other universities have been arrested and vilified as terrorist sympathizers.
Universities have been pressured to fire faculty and shut down Middle East studies programs.
Pro-Palestinian donors and activists have been publicly outed and doxxed.
DHS and FBI have been referring to the threat of ideologically motivated violence from pro-Palestinian groups in official bulletins.
“National security” has been the perfect cover for increased surveillance, unprecedented crackdowns, and civil rights violations over the years. In the aftermath of 9/11, broad surveillance of the American public was written into law via the Patriot Act. This has recently reached never-before-seen levels with the deployment of Palantir for mass analysis of individuals’ records across the government, in addition to monitoring social media for undesirable viewpoints. This will be a key tool in the administration’s ongoing detention and deportation strategy moving forward.
With the U.S. attack on Iran as a catalyst, the federal government will likely supercharge its efforts to align with the goals of Project Esther:
Framing dissent as terrorism
Creating a pretext for mass surveillance and legal action
Justifying deportations, detentions, and institutional purges
Leveraging public fear to consolidate executive power
It makes complete sense that the proposed federal budget contains a $45-billion-dollar earmark for constructing new “detention facilities” or concentration camps within the United States. With new targets in ICE’s sights and a rapid ramp-up in efforts to detain individuals and families, the government will need new places to hold them indefinitely, without due process, and with limited to no oversight.
It’s All According to Plan
None of this is happening in isolation. Project Esther is a logical add-on to Project 2025's vision of a government ruled by loyalty tests, Christian nationalism, and authoritarian control. It weaponizes the fear of terrorism to dismantle free speech, academic freedom, and pluralism. And in times of war or crisis, like the escalating conflict with Iran, it creates a perfect storm: a “national emergency” where extraordinary powers can be used to suspend rights and silence opposition.
If you haven't heard of Project Esther before, that is probably by design. After all, protesting against war is a longstanding American freedom that has been fiercely protected over the years. Running as the “squashing free speech” candidate would likely be unpopular. But the effects of this document are already unfolding at this very moment. If we don't name it, explain it, and resist it, it could soon become the justification for a level of repression this country has not seen in generations.