Leo Terrell: I am Going To ELIMINATE “Jewish Taxes” In America!

Chair of the DOJ Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Senior Counsel to the Dept. of Justice, Leo Terrell, announced on Twitter that he plans to, and I quote: “ELIMINATE Jewish Taxes in America!”

Oh my.

Take a look here:

I am going to ELIMINATE Jewish Taxes in America! @realDonaldTrump @LeoTerrellDOJ https://t.co/gh3uKzv2rr

— LeoTerrell (@TheLeoTerrell) July 12, 2025

Screenshot here if needed:

And yes, that is his real Twitter account with 2.5 million followers.

Verified here:

NOTE that is his personal account and not his formal Government account.

So now the big question: what in the Hell are “Jewish Taxes”?

Are these taxes imposed on us by Jews?

Or is he saying taxes paid by Jews?

The answer comes from the Tweet Terrell was replying to, an article from Politico.

Here’s a portion of that Politico article that sheds more light on what “Jewish Taxes” are in this context:

Leo Terrell, the chair of the Department of Justice’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, slammed Mayor Muriel Bowser for her “lukewarm response” to a “crisis” of antisemitism in the city in a series of posts to his X account this week.

Terrell posted a back-and-forth with Bowser’s office over his request to meet directly with the mayor to discuss rising antisemitism in the city — including what he said were “Jewish taxes” levied against the community in the form of increased security costs.

Local Jewish leaders have acknowledged an increase in security costs — even as the head of an organization focused on security for Jewish institutions in the Washington area told POLITICO that efforts to work with federal crime data teams have been stymied due to “a reallocation of resources.”

The targeted and pointedly publicized attack on D.C. leadership marks a renewed assault from the Trump administration against the District. Trump, who repeatedly floated a federal takeover of Washington during his first administration, revisited the idea on Tuesday when he suggested during a Cabinet meeting that “we could run D.C.”

Terrell’s decision to turn his task force’s focus to the nation’s capital also comes after the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in May sent shock waves through the local community and prompted D.C.-area Jewish religious and community centers to bolster their security apparatuses.

“There’s been a disturbing rise in antisemitic violence in Washington, DC,” Terrell wrote in a post accompanying a photograph of the initial letter he sent to the mayor. “I saw blood being wiped off the sidewalk outside the Capital Jewish Museum after a domestic terrorist murdered Israeli embassy staffers. Jewish community members are facing threats, intimidation — and in some cases, are being forced to pay outrageous ‘Jewish taxes’ just to get security and feel safe.”

Terrell’s task force gained influence as the driving force behind the federal investigations into prominent universities over alleged cover-ups of antisemitism on their campuses, leading to significant cuts in federal funding that ignited a legal battle over the move.

ADVERTISEMENT

Bowser has tried to play nice with Trump in his second term, hoping to stave off more aggressive attacks on the city. But when a representative from the mayor’s office directed Terrell to meet with specific officials tasked with handling the issues in question rather than the mayor herself, Terrell appeared to suggest that Bowser was attempting to brush him off.

“A lukewarm response to a crisis that demands bold leadership!” Terrell said, posting a photograph of the email response from the mayor’s office, before sharing his office’s response pushing to meet directly with the mayor and vowing to “keep the White House informed about the meeting.”

Bowser’s office acknowledged but did not otherwise respond to multiple requests for comment, and the DOJ declined to comment further on Terrell’s posts and letters.

While Terrell repeatedly described increased security costs as “Jewish taxes,” the executive director of JShield, the security division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, emphasized that “the term ‘Jewish tax’ isn’t one used in our community” — but said its likely intended meaning still rings true. The Federation covers not only Washington, but sizable Jewish communities in suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia.

“In the D.C. context, the ‘Jewish tax’ reflects a real and ongoing cost of being Jewish in an environment where safety cannot be taken for granted,” JShield’s Rusty Rosenthal said, adding that “Jewish communities have had to significantly increase spending on security infrastructure in response to persistent threats.”

What’s your take?