Stephen M. Flatow is president of the Religious Zionists of America. He is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995, and author of A Father’s Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror. (The RZA is not affiliated with any American or Israeli political party.)
The Heritage Foundation thought it was building a flagship initiative against antisemitism. Instead, its leadership ignited a revolt. When Heritage president Kevin Roberts publicly defended Tucker Carlson for hosting Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes-and dismissed Carlson’s critics as a “venomous coalition”-Jewish organizations didn’t wait for clarification. They walked. Even after Roberts apologized, the damage was done: a growing list of pro-Israel groups now want nothing to do with a movement that can’t immediately recognize, condemn, and distance itself from open Jew-hatred.
Jewish organizations responded swiftly. The Zionist Organization of America, the Coalition for Jewish Values, and the Jewish Leadership Project all announced they would no longer participate in Heritage’s “Project Esther.” The National Jewish Advocacy Center and The Israel Innovation Fund quit as well. Young Jewish Conservatives and the Israel Forever Foundation pulled out. Attorneys and activists affiliated with the initiative resigned individually, including long-time conservative supporters of Israel who once championed the partnership.
And it wasn’t only Jews. Prominent Christian Zionists who agreed to help shape Project Esther resigned in protest, saying that any initiative that can’t clearly and instantly denounce Fuentes-and those who give him a platform-has no credibility. That matters, because Heritage promoted Project Esther as a model of Jewish-Christian solidarity.
The fallout raises a larger issue: How did this become a debate in the first place?
Nick Fuentes is not misunderstood. His antisemitism is explicit. His praise for Adolf Hitler is public. No respectable institution should need time to “research” him. Yet Heritage’s president said he “didn’t know much about” Fuentes, then chose to attack Carlson’s critics before finally walking it back. That combination-ignorance, dismissal, and a slow apology-is exactly how you lose trust.
Some conservatives now argue that Roberts’s apology should close the matter. But trust is not repaired with a press release. If Heritage wants to lead a fight against antisemitism-especially after October 7-it must show that Jewish allies can rely on its instincts. If your reflex is to defend the people who enable antisemites and attack the people who sound the alarm, you aren’t leading. You’re enabling.
There’s also a deeper trend at work: a noticeable drift among certain conservative media personalities toward “distancing” from Israel, elevating Christian identity as a political litmus test, and implying that Jews do not fully belong in that coalition. Most Jews respect religious faith. What they will not accept is a movement that says fighting antisemitism is important-until it conflicts with their favorite pundit.
So where does this leave Heritage?
If the organization intends to repair the damage, it must rebuild from clarity and action, not ambiguity and excuses. It should say publicly, unmistakably: Nick Fuentes is an antisemite. Tucker Carlson was wrong to give him a platform. Anyone who minimizes Holocaust denial or white nationalism will have no place in any Heritage-branded initiative. Then Heritage needs to meet with departing partners and ask what structural changes are required so that nothing like this happens again.
The Jewish community-both in America and Israel-has learned, painfully, that antisemitism does not become acceptable just because it comes wrapped in the language of “free speech” or “anti-wokeness.” When conservative institutions allow Jew-haters into the room, even indirectly, they lose the trust of their most loyal allies.
Heritage still has a choice to make. If it wants to lead the fight against antisemitism, it must prove it. Not with slogans. Not with projects. With clarity.
And if it can’t-or won’t-then the Jewish groups that left were right to go.