The Trump administration is preparing to launch a nationwide campaign against antisemitism, sending senior Justice Department officials to 15 cities that it says have failed to adequately protect their Jewish communities.
Leo Terrell, chairman of the Justice Department’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and a senior counsel at the department, told The Jerusalem Post that the initiative had been approved by US President Donald Trump and Justice Department leadership. The campaign is expected to begin in early September.
“The 15-city tour is designed to go to victims who need help, and they’re not getting help from their local government,” Terrell said.
“We’re working 24/7 to kick this tour off, probably early September, and it’s going to run for the next 60 to 90 days,” he added.
The effort marks an expansion of the administration’s campaign against antisemitism beyond college campuses and into local communities, where Jewish Americans have reported rising threats and hate crimes since October 7, according to Terrell.
Rather than simply meeting with local officials, the federal government intends to bring an inter-agency team directly into affected communities, he said.
“I’m coming with a full arsenal of people,” Terrell said. “I’m bringing the Department of Labor. I’m bringing the FBI. I’m bringing resources and law enforcement.”
The goal, he explained, is to educate Jewish communities about their legal rights and to publicly highlight what he described as failures by local governments to enforce hate crime laws.
Terrell points to New York and Los Angeles as possible destinations
Although Terrell declined to identify the 15 cities included in the tour, he pointed to New York and Los Angeles as examples of jurisdictions where he believes local officials have not done enough to prosecute antisemitic crimes.
“What’s happening here is that the local district attorneys and local mayors are not prosecuting hate crimes,” he said. “The hate crime conviction rate or charges do not exist in these blue cities.”
He also accused teachers’ unions in Los Angeles, Boston, and Philadelphia of contributing to what he described as anti-Jewish indoctrination in K-12 schools.
“This has to stop because the local officials are not taking any corrective action,” Terrell said.
When asked how the federal government could intervene despite the authority held by governors and mayors, Terrell acknowledged that local officials have significant discretion. He argued, however, that Washington still has tools at its disposal.
“First of all, we want to shine a spotlight on their failures,” he said. “They need some sunlight.”
The public campaign is intended to document what the administration views as systemic failures before it considers further legal action, he said.
“If they fail to take action on behalf of Jewish Americans, the federal government could come in and do what they call a pattern-and-practice lawsuit,” Terrell said. “We have to document their failures first before we can take corrective action.”
Not just NY and LA: Trump admin. receives reports of antisemitism nationwide
While New York and Los Angeles often dominate discussions about antisemitism, Terrell said the administration had received reports from Jewish communities across the country.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know there are problems in New York,” he said. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know there are problems in Los Angeles.”
“But in Seattle, Tacoma, and some smaller cities in the Midwest, we’ve been inundated. I’ve gotten calls from St. Louis because of hate crimes going on,” he added.
Terrell stressed that the campaign was not solely about protecting Jewish Americans, but also about defending broader American values.
“My plea was not only to the Jewish population but to everyone,” he said. “Fighting antisemitism is an American issue.”
The initiative coincides with the Trump administration targeting antisemitism at American universities, including investigations into campuses accused of failing to protect Jewish students.
Terrell said the new effort would apply the same philosophy to municipalities.
“We’re going to the cities,” he said. “I want these Americans to be empowered with information. They’re not getting it on the local level, so we’re going to tell them what their rights are.”
The campaign will also include an extensive media strategy designed to counter antisemitic content online.
“We’re going to be on radio, podcasts, and every aspect of social media,” Terrell said. “We’re going to start that at the beginning of the tour, during the tour, and after the tour.”
“We’re going to neuter the lies and the hate that’s out there on social media,” he added.
On Sunday, during a speech at an Israel on Campus Coalition event in the United States, Terrell spoke of an issue he dubbed the “Jewish tax” – the financial burden that many Jewish institutions face in securing their own protection.
“A Jewish tax is where the Jewish community, to go to their synagogue, may have to pay $60,000, $70,000, or $80,000 for police security,” he said. “If they’re going to have a three-day convention like this, it might cost them $200,000 in security.”
“No other group has to pay that,” he stated.
In a later conversation with the Post, Terrell maintained that protecting synagogues, Jewish schools, and communal events was fundamentally the responsibility of local governments rather than the communities themselves.
“The mayor and local law enforcement have the obligation to protect the city,” he said. “They should instruct law enforcement to protect that school or synagogue. But they’re not doing it. They’re failing to take action when they know there’s a problem.”