Why is this so important?

Harmful actions, including those who seek to harm Jews, will continue to grow unless those who are considering taking action know they will be pursued to the FULL extent of the law with the intent to take away their financial means and their personal freedom.

Jews are facing a dramatic increase in antisemitism from progressives, in part because some supporters of Critical Race Theory view Jews as privileged and Israel as the oppressor. This growing ideology not only harms Jews in the US and Canada and represents a threat to their democracies, it also poses a long-term threat to the US-Israel relationship.

Colleges will continue to be platforms for promoting hate against certain groups, including Jews, if they continue to accept large sums of monies from countries and organizations that are designed to influence the views of students against certain minority groups.  Policies must be put in place and enforced to protect all minorities, including Jews, from this type of organized and well-funded activity.

What actions are we taking?

The Nagen Project has identified a number of initiatives that will have an impact. So far, we have funded five projects and have others under consideration.

The five projects we have counseled and helped fund to date are:

1.  Integrity First for America who successfully sued the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and hate groups that conspired to cause violence in Charlottesville during Unite the Right. The civil lawsuit secured millions of dollars in damages — and even before trial, resulted in major financial and operational impacts on the defendants and broader movement, while serving as a deterrent to other violent extremists and providing a model for accountability.

2.  The Lawfare Project designed to shine a light on and DETER foreign funding of colleges which promote a political point of view to the detriment of minorities, including Jewish students.  Influencers, including those who promote anti-Semitism, will always have the advantage if they have long term, well funded strategies. These must be counteracted, not simply responded to.

3.  Hillel International, along with the American Council on Education (ACE) and American Jewish Committee(AJC) has planned a conference of university presidents and chancellors to focus on the upsurge of anti-Semitism on campuses and what steps are needed to address it. We believe this is a CRITICAL STEP in order for policies to be adopted that will protect the Jewish students. We are providing significant funding for this project.

4.  A new ideology –sometimes called Critical Social Justice (CSJ), Critical Race Theory (CRT) or “wokeness”—has taken center stage in North American institutions. Without a doubt, this ideology is generating antisemitism. Indeed, we are observing novel manifestations of Jew hatred in numerous mainstream institutions, in policies and in society. We are funding the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values and working with the Reut Group of Israel which has conducted a comprehensive community scan of how these ideologies give rise to antisemitism and empower extremist elements. The Jewish Institute for Liberal Values has launched the New Allies Initiative, which identified and reached out to non-Jewish leaders about the new ideological antisemitism and the threat of CSJ ideology to their communities as well. The target groups and leaders include Asian Americans, Latinos, African Americans, Evangelical Christians and LGBT leaders. With the results of these two initiatives in hand, we will now provide North American Jewish leaders and Israel with specific recommendations of strategies and messaging on how to fight this new, dangerous form of antisemitism. Our next phase of the project, beginning Winter 2022, will scale up the New Allies Initiative and development a comprehensive strategic and messaging framework. It will support the Jewish community in building a new coalition dedicated to strengthening democratic values and opposing extremism emanating from both ends of the political spectrum.

5. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan 501(c)(3) research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. FDD conducts in-depth research, produces accurate and timely analyses, identifies illicit activities, and provides policy options – all with the aim of strengthening U.S. national security and reducing or eliminating threats posed by adversaries and enemies of the United States and other free nations. We are proud to contribute to FDD’s projects related to combatting the nefarious international networks that enable U.S. domestic extremism as well as FDD’s efforts to expose Islamist organizations that promote hatred of the United States, Israel, Christians, and Jews.

Who are we?

The Nagen Project is a non political, dedicated group that actively pursues projects that:

1.  Deter harmful action with a particular focus on anti-Semitism.

2.  Impose legal consequences on those who will act on their hate.

3.  Counter long term strategies that promote hate in colleges and K-12.

4.  Effectively communicate DETERRENCE strategies to a much wider audience.