Mark Goldfeder resigned Sunday from the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a project that falls under the Heritage Foundation, after the conservative think tank’s leadership chose “to defend and even celebrate Tucker Carlson’s decision to platform Nick Fuentes — a figure whose record of overt racism, sexism, and antisemitism is beyond dispute,” he wrote.
Goldfeder, CEO and director of the nonprofit National Jewish Advocacy Center, posted his resignation letter on X, adding that while Heritage has done “valuable work … I cannot serve under someone who thinks Nazis are worth debating.”
Carlson hosted Fuentes on his YouTube show last Tuesday. Fuentes, a far-right, “America First” political commentator and activist, is known for unapologetically promoting racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic views and policies.
In the days that followed the interview’s publication, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts called Carlson a “close friend,” saying “I disagree with and even abhor things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer.” Roberts posted a video on X Thursday, denouncing the “venomous coalition” that has tried to cancel Carlson.
The Heritage Foundation is a Washington-based conservative think tank known for its influence on Republican policy and the conservative movement since 1973. In recent years, it has been thrown into turmoil for aligning more closely with populist and nationalist currents within American conservatism.
The full text of the resignation from Goldfeder, an attorney specializing in constitutional and international law who has served as an advisor to multiple national and international initiatives combatting antisemitism and extremism, is below:
National Jewish Advocacy Center
NJAC
3 Times Square, NY 10036
November 2, 2025
Re: Resignation from the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism
To Whom It May Concern:
It is with regret that I write to tender my resignation from the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a project housed under the auspices of the Heritage Foundation.
When I agreed to join this effort, it was because I believed that combating antisemitism must remain a nonpartisan moral imperative—one that transcends politics, ideology, and institutional affiliation. The Jewish people have too often suffered when fighting hatred became a partisan sport. I hoped that this initiative could model something better: a principled coalition grounded in shared decency and moral clarity.
Unfortunately, the recent decision by Heritage leadership to defend and even celebrate Tucker Carlson’s decision to platform Nick Fuentes—a figure whose record of overt racism, sexism, and antisemitism is beyond dispute—makes continued participation impossible. Elevating him, and then attacking those who object as somehow un-American or disloyal, in a video replete with antisemitic tropes and dog-whistles no less, is not the protection of free speech: It is moral collapse disguised as courage.
It is especially painful that Heritage, an institution with an historic role in shaping conservative policy, would choose this moment to blur the line between worthwhile debate and the normalization of hate. I have spent much of my career defending the principle of free expression, including speech I personally abhor. But defending the right to engage in abhorrent rhetoric is not the same as endorsing the platforming of those who use it to dehumanize others. Free speech protects the right to speak; it does not compel anyone to provide a megaphone for a Nazi.
Those of us who lead or advise efforts to combat antisemitism have a responsibility to draw that line clearly. If we fail to do so, and if we equivocate when hatred dresses itself in the language of populism, we betray both our mission and our values. Free speech includes the right to associate, and equally, the right not to. Choosing not to share a platform with bigotry is not censorship; it’s conscience.
I want to personally thank the leaders of the Task Force, many of whom have already spoken up about the need for Heritage to course-correct before it is too late. I hope that Heritage will listen, and someday reclaim the clarity that once defined its best moments. And I look forward to working together again as soon as that day comes.
Respectfully,
Mark Goldfeder, CEO
National Jewish Advocacy Center
