The leaders of an antisemitism task force closely affiliated with the Heritage Foundation said on Monday that they would stand by the conservative institution for now as its president faces backlash for defending Tucker Carlson, following the conservative podcaster’s controversial interview with neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes.

The co-chairs of the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a right-wing group that played a key role in drafting Heritage’s Project Esther antisemitism plan last year, said in a Monday night email to task force members that they had spoken with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts earlier in the day. 

“He shared his apology about how he has handled this issue, and was very open to our counsel,” the task force co-chairs wrote in the email, which was obtained by Jewish Insider. “Because of this we are asking the members of the taskforce to give us additional time to work out the practical steps moving forward.”

The four co-chairs are Mario Bramnick, a Florida pastor and president of the Latino Coalition for Israel; Victoria Coates, vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation; Ellie Cohanim, who served as deputy antisemitism special envoy in the first Trump administration; and Luke Moon, a pastor and executive director of the Philos Project. 

In the email, Bramnick, Coates, Cohanim and Moon, all staunch supporters of President Donald Trump, said the “conservative movement” is at an “inflection point.”

“We can allow the movement to elevate the most base identitarian elements within the movement or we can choose to build on the wins of the last year under President Donald Trump’s leadership,” they wrote. “When we started the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism the challenges before us were from the pro-Hamas radical Left. More recently, forces have begun to come together to aggressively push antisemitism on the Right. Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes are the most notable, but not the only voices we need to contend.”

The four co-chairs urged their task force members to “stick with us.” They said they will “work closely” with Roberts and the Heritage leadership “over the next several days.” 

Roberts has faced significant backlash for defending Carlson and his choice to host Fuentes, including from some Republican senators. Amid the criticism, he has made clear his disavowal of Fuentes’ racist and antisemitic beliefs while standing by Carlson. 

In a Monday night speech at Hillsdale College in Michigan, Roberts took a sharp line against antisemitism and offered an apology to his “Jewish friends.”  

“Let me say loud and clear: The Heritage Foundation, which has always not only stood against antisemitism — and I, if you know anything about my career, have done the same — we will never, ever, ever stop fighting against antisemitism in all its forms,” he said. 

At least two organizations resigned from the antisemitism task force earlier Monday: Young Jewish Conservatives and the Zionist Organization of America. 

“While we understand that many pro-Israel, pro-America conservatives remain at the Heritage Foundation, the buck stops with Dr. Roberts. As long as he remains at the helm and Heritage continues its alliance with a vocal purveyor of antisemitism in the United States, Young Jewish Conservative[s] has no choice but to withdraw its membership in the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism,” Young Jewish Conservatives announced in a statement.

ZOA National President Morton Klein said the organization would quit its involvement with Project Esther “unless Heritage President Kevin Roberts publicly and immediately condemns Carlson’s actions and statements, apologizes for Roberts’ video statements and ends Roberts’ and Heritage’s relationship with Tucker Carlson.”