US gives $10m grant to right-wing Jewish Tikvah Fund to combat antisemitism

The US’s National Endowment for the Humanities on Monday awarded a $10.4 million grant, the largest in its history, to the conservative Tikvah Fund to combat resurgent antisemitism.

Tikvah runs educational programs, fellowships, and media projects in the US.

The Fund said the grant will support its “Jewish Civilization Project” through the creation of a curriculum for middle and high school students; an expanded fellowship for Jewish students; public programs on antisemitism and Jewish resilience; and a fellowship for journalists seeking to write about Judaism or antisemitism.

“At this weighty moment in the history of the West, we believe that Jewish ideas are essential to strengthening the best of our shared American culture and answering the perverse ideology of antisemitism with the enduring majesty of Jewish civilization,” said CEO Eric Cohen.

The $10.4 million grant is the largest ever given by the NEH since the agency’s founding 60 years ago. In March, then-NEH chair Shelly Lowe, appointed for a four-year term, left her position early “at the direction of President Trump,” who named the agency’s general counsel Michael McDonald its acting chairman.

“While it is essential to combat the rise of antisemitism in the political and legal arenas,” said McDonald, “the humanities also have a vital role to play in this fight.”

He said Tikvah was well positioned to play a role in combating “the sinister and hate-filled attacks on Jewish people that we have been witnessing on American campuses and streets,” adding that these are “also attacks on the very foundations that have made the United States the exceptional nation that it is.”

The incorporation of Jewish history and thought into a larger Western corpus is a mainstay of Tikvah programming.

The NEH grant to Tikvah comes as the Trump administration cracks down on persistent antisemitism on American college campuses, after a wave of post-October 7 protests that called on schools to cut ties with Israel amid its campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

The demonstrations — which saw break-ins, graffiti, and the disruption of lessons and university functions — frequently included expressions of support for Hamas and other terror groups, and leading student organizations within the movement praised the October 7 attack.

Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has threatened universities’ federal funding if they do not take prescribed steps in the name of combating antisemitism, and has pulled significant federal money from Harvard while striking deals with several other Ivy League schools.

The administration has demanded that schools turn over information about noncitizen students, and it has sought to deport people with student visa and permanent residency status who participated in the Gaza war protests or expressed support for them.

Its campaign has drawn accusations, including from liberal Jewish groups, of violating principles of free expression, and of “weaponizing” accusations of antisemitism to push an unrelated right-wing agenda.

In its announcement of the grant to Tikvah, the NEH added: “In a related matter, following in the wake of President Trump’s Executive Orders on combatting antisemitism, NEH has also recently updated its notice of funding opportunities to place schools, colleges, and universities on notice that if they receive NEH financial assistance for humanities programs and activities, the agency will hold them accountable for tolerating discrimination or harassment against Jewish students in violation of civil rights law.”