Weaponizing DEI: Inside the Trump-Backed Crackdown on Palestine Solidarity
Under the pretext of dismantling Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs—widely unpopular among American conservatives—the powerful Heritage Foundation has begun to extend its campaign to anti-war activism and leftist causes on university campuses. The Trump administration appears to be enacting this agenda step by step.
DEI initiatives have become a fault line in America’s ever-deepening culture war. While many liberals support them, a March NBC poll found that 85 percent of conservative respondents favored terminating all DEI programs.
Keenly attuned to the political climate, President Donald Trump wasted no time. Immediately after taking office, he signed executive actions designed to purge DEI from the federal bureaucracy.
For years, prominent conservative voices have railed against DEI. But since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, many of them have taken a novel turn—linking DEI to criticism of Israel. On November 29, Ben Shapiro tweeted: “Destroy DEI. It is the rationale for the entire toxic intersectionality that has radically exacerbated antisemitism in the first place.” The following day, he aired an episode of his online show titled “Musk Is Right: Kill DEI To Fight Anti-Semitism.”
On January 20, 2024, Shapiro and Elon Musk spoke for more than 40 minutes at an event hosted by the European Jewish Association, discussing DEI and antisemitism. The conversation was laced with straw man arguments that fused the two issues. Shapiro went so far as to claim that DEI is inherently linked to antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jews.
From Campus to Congress
This rhetorical linkage hasn’t been limited to influencers or tech billionaires. For years, influential think tanks have been laying ideological groundwork to conflate DEI initiatives with pro-Palestinian sentiment. In December 2021, the Heritage Foundation released a study claiming that DEI staff on college campuses disproportionately hold anti-Israel views.
The study argued that many of these staffers displayed attitudes “so out of proportion and imbalanced as to constitute antisemitism.” In effect, it equated anti-Israel sentiment with antisemitism outright.
In April 2024, the Heritage Foundation published a follow-up titled “Harvard and DEI: An Expensive Lesson.” It referred to pro-Palestinian student protesters as “pro-Hamas students” while accusing DEI of discriminating against Jews. The piece also examined how the Trump administration has suspended $9 billion in federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard University and local affiliates, including Boston-area hospitals, pending the university’s compliance with specific demands. Chief among them: a crackdown on DEI and alleged campus antisemitism.
Soon after, on April 25, the Goldwater Institute published a piece titled “To Combat Campus Anti-Semitism, End DEI.” It drew comparisons between student protests—many of which were led by Jewish anti-war students—and scenes from Nazi Germany, echoing rhetoric from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The issue reached Capitol Hill on July 3. At a hearing titled “Divisive, Excessive, Ineffective: The Real Impact of DEI on College Campuses,” lawmakers were told that DEI programs have directly caused a rise in anti-Israel sentiment, conflated once again with antisemitism.
As at Columbia University—where the Trump administration canceled $400 million in grants—Harvard has also been asked to comply with additional federal demands. These extend beyond limiting pro-Palestinian activity. The administration has requested “full cooperation” with the Department of Homeland Security and other regulatory bodies.
Columbia, under pressure, restructured control of its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies departments, placing them under federal review. It also increased campus security’s authority to suppress anti-war demonstrations. Across the country, at least 60 universities now face similar threats.
The Blueprint Behind the Crackdown
Such measures, which encroach upon academic freedom, are being directed by the Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism—a body established shortly after Trump’s return to office. But this initiative did not arise in a vacuum.
The guiding framework was laid out in Project Esther, a 33-page report released by the Heritage Foundation on October 7, 2024. Its summary describes the “pro-Palestinian movement” in the United States as a “global Hamas Support Network (HSN)” that aims to sever U.S. support for Israel.
The report’s language openly conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism and opposition to Israeli or U.S. foreign policy with extremism. The messaging mirrors that of Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir—a firm with well-known links to the CIA—who once warned, “If we lose the intellectual debate, you will not be able to deploy any army in the West, ever.”
Project Esther also spells out a broader ideological mission. It states:
Supported by activists and funders dedicated to the destruction of capitalism and democracy, the HSN benefits from the support and training of America’s overseas enemies and seeks to achieve its goals by taking advantage of our open society, corrupting our education system, leveraging the American media, coopting the federal government, and relying on the American Jewish community’s complacency.
This rhetoric has filtered directly into government policy. The administration has accused pro-Palestine activists, such as detained Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, of supporting Hamas. Similar tactics have surfaced in the smear campaign against children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel, whom the organization Stop Antisemitism linked to alleged foreign funding and Hamas support.
Claims that foreign actors are financing the student protest movement have circulated among Washington think tanks since mid-2023. However, these accusations only appeared in official government communications after Trump returned to office. Despite numerous investigations and legal challenges, no credible evidence has been provided to substantiate claims of foreign funding.
Feature photo | Donald Trump, center, visits the grave site of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson at Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch, Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. Yuki Iwamura | AP
Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47
