Combating Antisemitism, Upholding Democracy, Protecting Free Speech

We equip policymakers and communities with tools to combat antisemitism. We oppose and counter efforts to exploit false accusations of antisemitism for political gain and we foster unity against all forms of hate and discrimination.

What We Do

The Nexus Project works to fight antisemitism, uphold democracy, and protect free speech — and recognizes that these tasks are intertwined. We take all accusations of antisemitism seriously, which is why we also speak out when fears of antisemitism are cynically exploited to stifle legitimate criticism of Israel or US policy.

Featured

September 18, 2025
A newly released Impose poll conducted in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Rochester, showed that 72% of Jewish Americans are concerned about antisemitism on campus and nearly 60% disapprove of the Trump administration's decision to withhold federal funding from Harvard and UCLA over allegations of antisemitism.
August 19, 2025
Professor David Myers, a Nexus Project Task Force member and professor of Jewish history at the University of California, Los Angeles, co-wrote an op-ed for the LA Times calling the Trump administration’s lawsuits around antisemitism on college campuses a “dangerous charade.” After the Trump administration announced it would suspend $584 million in federal research grants to UCLA, Myers wrote the suspension is a “shallow and disingenuous plot to destroy [UCLA] and the values of free inquiry and debate in the name of a dangerous, illiberal ideology that has been against higher education for years.” He warned against the university’s use of antisemitism as a pretext to advance its authoritarian agenda: “What this destructive path will not do is make the campus safer for Jews — or anyone else, for that matter.”
July 1, 2025
After the Trump administration told Harvard University it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act over antisemitism on campus
July 22, 2025
As a Boston court weighed the legality of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian activism, Nexus Project National Director Jonathan Jacoby spoke with The New York Times about how the White House’s campus policies reflect Project Esther, a Heritage Foundation blueprint for silencing pro-Palestinian protestors under the guise of countering antisemitism. Jacoby said: “These are examples of the Trump administration weaponizing legitimate concerns about Jewish safety, capitalizing on or manipulating Jewish fear to suppress constitutionally protected speech. What you see happening in Boston right now is part of that script: They’re saying that pro-Palestinian demonstrations are an expression of support for Hamas.”
June 4, 2025
Nexus Washington Director Kevin Rachlin told The Washington Post, “since Trump came [into office, the Trump administration is] weaponizing Jewish fear to advance a very specific agenda.” Rachlin noted that the Trump administrations endanger Jewish Americans, questioning, “What will you do to protect us? Shutting down and defunding schools, deporting people? That doesn’t protect Jews.”
April 8, 2025
Opinion Columnist Thomas Friedman explores the U.S.-Israel relationship under the Trump and Netanyahu administrations and how the two leaders undermine democracy to push their autocratic agendas. Friedman interviewed Nexus National Director Jonathan Jacoby about Nexus’s recent report Fighting Antisemitism, Protecting Democracy: A Strategy for the Trump Era. Jacoby commented: “President Trump has taken a real phenomenon that needs to be addressed — antisemitism that emerges out of debates on Israel — and is using it to justify crackdowns on immigration, higher education and free speech on Israel.”

Stay informed on antisemitism and its weaponization

A call to defend both democracy and Jewish safety, it is the Nexus Project’s answer to Project Esther, which is the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for using weaponized claims of antisemitism to undermine democratic institutions. We offer recommendations to strengthen protections for civil rights and democratic institutions, invest in education, and build cross-community alliances, with tangible steps that policymakers and community leaders can and should take to achieve these goals.

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Antisemitism consists of anti-Jewish beliefs, attitudes, actions or systemic conditions. It includes negative beliefs and feelings about Jews, hostile behavior directed against Jews (because they are Jews), and conditions that discriminate against Jews and significantly impede their ability to participate as equals in political, religious, cultural, economic, or social life.

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