Combating Antisemitism, Upholding Democracy, Protecting Free Speech

Nexus National Director Jonathan Jacoby told Haaretz, “The Trump administration continues to exploit our community's concerns to unfairly target others – all while elevating and engaging in antisemitism themselves," following U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announcing it would begin to monitor immigrants’ social media for alleged antisemitic comments, including critiques of the ongoing war in Gaza.

Jonathan Jacoby told the Boston Globe the new USCIS policy weaponizes antisemitism as a pretext for deporting immigrants. He “criticized McLaughlin’s use of the term ‘terrorist sympathizer’ as ‘vague’ and said using it ‘to target and punish immigrants will not combat antisemitism or make Jews any safer…The administration continues to exploit our community’s concerns to unfairly target others – all while elevating and engaging in antisemitism themselves.’”

Following the announcement by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that it will begin monitoring immigrants’ social media for alleged antisemitic content, the Nexus Project told The Guardian: Treating antisemitism as an imported problem does not fight antisemitism. Using politically malleable language like ‘terrorist sympathizer’ to go after immigrants does not fight antisemitism. Doing this while elevating antisemitism, as this administration is doing, does not fight antisemitism.”

Reuters reported on the announcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that it would monitor social media posts from immigrants for alleged antisemitism and use it as grounds for deportation. Kanishka Singh wrote, “The Nexus Project, which fights antisemitism, said the Trump administration was going after immigrants in the name of tackling antisemitism and treating antisemitism as an imported problem.”

POLITICO analyzes Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther, which the Trump administration has used as a blueprint to combat antisemitism, including detaining student protestors and pulling funding from universities. Kevin Rachlin commented, “There is real resistance from the Jewish community. There is real resistance from the civil liberties community, from almost across the board in civil society. There is real danger if [Project Esther] is implemented.”

Alan Solomont, member of the Nexus Project Board and Dean Emeritus of Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, responded to the detainment of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University PhD student. Solomont editorializes, “What happened to Ozturk, and many other international students, will not make Jewish students safer, nor is it fighting antisemitism. It is weaponizing legitimate Jewish pain and very real concerns about antisemitism to undermine civil liberties and the rule of…