Donald Trump’s re-election as president of the US marks a shift in US coverage – from the Joe Biden administration’s hypocritical denial of American complicity in Zionist genocide, battle crimes and crimes towards humanity to an unapologetic endorsement of all these actions.
In addition to bringing Washington’s assist for all of Israel’s excesses, crimes and violations out into the open, Trump’s return to the White Home may also intensify and make much more overt the persecution of those that dare resist white supremacy and its Zionist incarnation.
Beneath Biden, those that opposed American-funded and -facilitated Zionist genocide, from college college students and civil servants to racial justice activists and authors, already confronted threats from politicians, police harassment, baseless accusations of anti-Semitism within the media and relentless intimidation from employers, college directors and far-right-linked Zionist “self-defence” groups.
And but, Trump says Biden has been “weak” in countering “Hamas radicals” and he would do much more to close down anticolonial resistance as president. On the marketing campaign path, he called for the deportation of international nationals who assist Palestinian resistance and, since being elected, has nominated pro-Israel hawks to key intelligence and safety posts in his authorities, signalling he intends to maintain his guarantees on cracking down on anti-Zionist activists. For instance, Trump named Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor who as soon as launched a invoice cracking down on criticism of Israel on the grounds of “guaranteeing the safety of God’s chosen individuals”, as his secretary of homeland safety.
One other indication that Trump’s second time period might be marked by a brand new crackdown on anticolonial and antiracist resistance got here within the type of a technique to “fight anti-Semitism” titled “Mission Esther”, drafted by the distinguished Trump-aligned conservative suppose tank, the Heritage Basis.
The Heritage Basis has been open about its intention to remodel “Mission Esther” into authorities coverage underneath a second Trump administration. It states inside the technique doc itself – which was revealed on October 7 to mark the primary anniversary of the Hamas assaults on Israel – that it hopes “Mission Esther” would current “a chance for public-private partnership when a prepared administration occupies the White Home”.
Created by the identical minds that introduced us the authoritarian, Christian nationalist “Project 2025”, “Mission Esther” syncretises the story of Queen Esther, the Jewish heroine celebrated throughout Purim for saving Jews of historic Persia from extermination by the hands of Vizier Haman, with modern-day Zionist narratives of defence and victimhood to depict her as a defender of Jews towards activists, lecturers and progressive members of Congress within the US who oppose racism, apartheid and genocide. The technique paper, supposedly designed to be “a blueprint to counter anti-Semitism in the US”, consists of a number of basic facets of fascistic thought and apply as outlined by Umberto Eco, comparable to syncretic tradition, xenophobia, a cult of heroism and anti-intellectualism.
Focused people – together with quite a few Black, Brown and Jewish elected representatives who voiced any criticism of Israel, together with Senators Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer – are collectively mischaracterised as members of “Hamas Assist Organisations (HSO)”, a part of a “Hamas Assist Community” and equated with Purim’s villain, Haman. By way of this framing, the marketing campaign targets distinguished social justice advocates and progressive Democratic Get together representatives as enemies of the Jewish individuals, utilizing the mythology of Queen Esther to justify their persecution and repression.
“Mission Esther” shamelessly states its goals to eradicate anticolonial views from the US schooling system, restrict the dissemination of associated data and prohibit advocates’ entry to American society, the economic system and Congress. It seeks to prosecute alleged authorized and prison violations by “HSO” members, disrupt their communications, prohibit demonstrations and rally the Jewish group, allies and the American public towards anticolonial resistance actions.
With fearmongering rhetoric draped in patriotism and “American values” and the most recent Zionist spin on rebranding offensive aggression as “defence”, “Project Esther” institutionalises repression of dissent inside a fallacious, fascistic theoretical framework, casting itself as the ultimate bulwark towards an imaginary risk of “international affect” and valiant protector of residents from brown-skinned heathen hordes who’ve supposedly promised to contaminate white American open society with an anticapitalist agenda. Usually, “Mission Esther” ideologues see themselves as heroes, courageously waging a holy battle, a lot to the tune of the Ku Klux Klan’s notorious portrayal in Birth of a Nation.
Calling on “the silent majority” to “break its silence and communicate” to “recuperate its voice and convert its phrases into actions to render impotent an illegitimate, hateful minority that threatens America’s soul” by, amongst different accusations, “corrupting our schooling system”, “Mission Esther” weaponises xenophobic developments bolstered by the incoming Trump administration to threaten and fracture anticolonial actions that rigorously oppose Zionism and white supremacy alike.
Beneath the guise of combating hate and interesting to a supposedly terrorised and humiliated underclass, “Mission Esther” seeks to border antiracist opposition to Zionist apartheid and genocide as inherently anti-Semitic. Nevertheless, this exposes Zionism itself as white supremacy and a contemporary embodiment of anti-Semitic ideology, very like Haman within the delusion of Queen Esther, actively concentrating on Jewish organisations comparable to Jewish Voice for Peace and the Reformed Jewish motion.
“Mission Esther” criticises what it sees as “complacency” inside the American Jewish group, invoking the Zionist-manufactured anti-Semitic ideally suited of a “new Jew” who rejects conventional beliefs that interpret oppression and hardship as divine punishment for sins. This imaginative and prescient disparages conventional reliance on defence as passive and weak, selling as a substitute an assertive, offensive method to resistance. According to this view, Zionists undertake the anti-Semitic notion that Jews have been answerable for their very own struggling, advocating for segregation and land acquisition in a brand new homeland as the final word resolution.
Notably, fearmongering has lengthy been utilized by Zionists to encourage Jewish, ideally white, immigration to Israel as a method to restock the Israeli navy and fight the Palestinian “demographic risk”. By amplifying the partnership between US white supremacy and Zionist expansionism, “Mission Esther” presents a critical risk to anticolonial and justice-oriented intersectional actions throughout the nation, on the one hand, and minorities, together with Jews, on the opposite.
“Mission Esther” guarantees to proceed to hurry up the mobilisation of Zionists and right-wing anti-Semites, now emboldened by Trump’s victory, to dismantle resistance to their racist insurance policies by way of monetary and tutorial audits, “title and disgrace” campaigns and “lawfare”. Whereas shielding Zionist insurance policies and aligning with US white supremacy, the doc – riddled with misinformation about “anti-Israel and anti-Zionist Jew-haters making an attempt to put siege to our schooling system, political processes, and authorities” – reinforces the incoming Trump administration in addition to Zionist vigilante teams just like the “Jewish Defence League” and their pure allies, American neo-Nazis, to stifle free speech and dissent.
Finally, campaigns like “Mission Esther” manipulate Jewish historic trauma to advertise white supremacy and suppress anticolonial, antiracist actions whereas gaslighting the general public to just accept Palestinian solidarity, even when expressed by Jews, as anti-Semitic. This alignment not solely stifles dissent to right-wing agendas, it additionally perpetuates a fascist narrative that promotes violence towards those that resist oppression, casting them as an existential risk. This Zionist-white supremacist partnership poses a direct problem to justice actions, and humanity as an entire, utilizing worry, propaganda and violence to undermine efforts for real solidarity and liberation.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
