Ronald Lauder Announces $25 Million Fund to Fight Anti-Semitic Candidates

New York – Candidates for elected office who support or normalize anti-Semitism will now face a formidable war chest aligned against them.

Ronald Lauder, a billionaire Jewish philanthropist and founder of the Estee Lauder cosmetics firm, announced Monday that he is launching a $25 million campaign to battle anyone running for federal, state or local office with an anti-Semitic platform.

The Anti-Semitism Accountability Project, or ASAP, was founded, Lauder said, after he saw a lot of talk but no plans to deal with the ancient scourge.

“We’ve had polls, we’ve had conferences, we’ve had different speeches. But no action,” Lauder, the 75-year-old head of  the World Jewish Congress, told the New York Times.

The group will also have a super PAC, which allows it to spend unlimited amounts of cash in support or opposition of candidates as long  as it doesn’t collude with the campaign. Lauder said the group will determine which politicians will be targeted ahead of the next election, in November 2020.

“Although I am a lifelong Republican, anti-Semitism knows no political party,” he added. “I’m going after the right as well as the left.”

The launch of ASAP comes amid a record rise in anti-Semitism, with the Anti-Defamation League reporting a 90 percent rise in the past year or so.