The National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, created by the Heritage Foundation and spearheading Project Esther, is a group dominated by right-wing Christians. The ongoing assault by the Trump regime targeting Harvard University, along with other colleges and universities across America is at the core of NTFCA’s mission.

Shortly before the November presidential election, Religion Dispatches reported:

Following a time-honored Israel advocacy tradition, Project Esther frames its McCarthyist crusade as an effort to ensure the safety of Jews. But as Jewish Insider reported, it seemingly lacks the participation of all but the most far-right fringes of the institutional American Jewish landscape. Instead, it appears to be led entirely by Christian nationalists. At the helm of the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism are Mario Bramnick and Luke Moon, among the most influential movement builders of the Christian Zionist Right.

Florida-based Pastor Bramnick is a leading apostle of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a militant Pentecostal and Charismatic dominionist movement that seeks to conquer the “seven mountains” of legislative, cultural and societal influence to Christianize the nations. A member of then-President Trump’s 2016 Hispanic Advisory Council and 2020 Faith Advisory Board, Bramnick boasts close ties to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, GOP House speaker Mike Johnson, and a host of global authoritarian leaders. Like much of the NAR network, Bramnick was influential in MAGA election denial efforts leading up to January 6.

Bramnick’s main cause, though, is Israel. “God is calling the Jewish people back home,” he told NAR leader Lance Wallnau in 2022. “It’s the regathering…eschatologically, before the coming of the Lord.” Bramnick leads the Latino Coalition for Israel—which calls itself the “largest Hispanic Pro-Israel organization in America”—and moves regularly in the orbit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of the pro-Israel Right. In 2019, Bramnick called Trump a “modern Cyrus” for moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, a core Christian Zionist policy goal, and claims to have met with eight heads of state in the aftermath, attempting to convince them to do the same.

Luke Moon is CEO of the Philos Project, a Christian Zionist organization that has launched ‘Christian Birthright’ trips, outreach initiatives to Black and Latinx communities, and other projects to target what one 2023 profile called the “mushy middle” of American Christians who are “underengaged on Israel.” Philos has received core funding from anti-Iran hawks like Paul Singer and right-wing hasbara outfits like the Adam Milstein Family Foundation, and its former executive director, Robert Nicholson, whose recent op-ed in Providence, an Institute on Religion and Democracy publication, declared that “hundreds of millions of Muslims” worldwide are part of a “rival civilization who want to destroy our way of life.”

Moon moves easily in NAR circles as a result of his efforts to craft a big-tent Christian Zionist coalition. In April, he organized a rally to protest Columbia University’s Gaza student encampment with popular NAR leader and worship singer Sean Feucht. “We’re seeing this rise and this flood of antisemitism across the world—yes, these are the end days!” Feucht proclaimed excitedly on a livestream the night before the rally. “Israel will serve as a redemptive sign,” agreed Russell Johnson, another rally leader, “proof positive…that as we move closer to the great day of the return of the Lord, we will see massive harvest, massive revival, massive souls turning to the Lord in the nation of Israel.” For the NAR, a rise in antisemitism, and mass conversion of Jews in Israel, are sure signs that the End Times draw near.

According to Jewish Insider, leaders of Project Esther refused to address the precipitous rise of right-wing antisemitism in their recommendations, and it’s easy to see why, as doing so might force them to look in the mirror. [Continue reading…]

In November, Baptist News Global reported:

One Heritage task force member said the group discussed but decided against calling out popular conservative figures who’ve promoted antisemitic views on their platforms, including Tucker Carlson (who recently hosted a Holocaust-denying historian on his program) and Candace Owens (the sharp-tongued Black conservative Christian commentator who has used her platforms to promote a series of antisemitic conspiracies.)

The Anti-Defamation League criticizes Carlson for being “an accelerant to the erosion of our democracy, political divisiveness, increased toxicity online, and decreased faith in public institutions.”

ADL says Carlson’s antisemitism can lead to real-world violence against Jews: “As early as 2021, white supremacists were praising Carlson’s promotion of the Great Replacement theory, the racist, antisemitic and xenophobic conspiracy that posits that white Americans are at risk of being disenfranchised by nonwhite immigrants, sometimes described euphemistically by Carlson as ‘demographic change’ or ‘replacing the population.’”

ADL says Carlson promoted Great Replacement theory on more than 400 episodes of his Fox News show. Carlson lost his job at Fox after the network paid $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems. Since leaving Fox, Carlson has continued to promote antisemitic claims.

Focus on the Family and its allied organizations call Carlson inspiring, smart, passionate, brave, bold, pro-life, pro-family, pro-Christianity and “the leading voice in American politics.” They say Carlson exhibits the courage — if not the evangelistic calling — of Billy Graham. Carlson headlined Focus’ 2023 major donor retreat in Laguna Niguel, Calif., and has done fundraisers for a handful of Focus-affiliated state organizations.

The Anti-Defamation League describes Owens as “a right-wing public figure who has come to espouse explicitly antisemitic, anti-Zionist and anti-Israel views, notably following the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel.”

Owens also has claimed Judaism is a “pedophile-centric religion that believes in demons.”

Owens also “promoted the ‘blood libel’ conspiracy, the false charge that Jews used the blood of Christian children for ritual purposes, which in past centuries led to Jews’ being violently attacked,” ADL said. [Continue reading…]