Jewish groups condemn Coast Guard for secret swastika policy change

Admiral Kevin Lunday testifies during his confirmation hearing to be the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on November 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. A career national security attorney and judge advocate, Lunday has been serving as acting commandant since January 21, 2025. Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images

(JTA) — After the Washington Post reported last month that the U.S. Coast Guard was reclassifying swastikas and nooses to no longer be considered hate symbols, Jewish leaders voiced their objections.

The Coast Guard’s acting commandant, claiming the report was inaccurate, sought to assure them. There would be no change to its categorization of the symbols, Admiral Kevin Lunday told Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner in emails with the head of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center. Lunday also issued a memo giving an explicit directive not to change them.

For a time, he seemed to put fears at ease. But this week, another Post report revealed that the Coast Guard had, indeed, quietly gone through with the change. The Nazi insignia and the noose, a symbol closely associated with lynchings, were now labeled as “potentially divisive,” downgraded from hate symbols. The policy had been codified in the Coast Guard’s updated workplace harassment manual on Monday.

Now, Jewish groups are sounding off again — and they’re furious.

“I am outraged and baffled as to how the policy change has, in fact, occurred on your watch,” Pesner wrote in an open letter to Lunday viewed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The rabbi said the admiral had assured him, “The swastika has always been and remains a prohibited symbol of hate in the Coast Guard.” Now, Pesner said, he was doubting the sincerity of the exchange.

“Was your initial reply an outright falsehood?” Pesner asked. “In the last month, has USGC suddenly discovered an affinity for symbols under which millions were murdered, enslaved, oppressed, or otherwise dehumanized? Is there another justification for this newly adopted policy?”

He concluded, “The damage the USGC has done to itself and the United States through this new policy is enormous.”

In an open letter to Lunday on Thursday, leaders of Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America said the group was “deeply disappointed” by the apparent policy reversal.

“The Coast Guard must require active accountability,” Scott Stevens, the group’s National Commander, wrote in the letter shared with JTA.

Jewish War Veterans had previously posed “four questions” to Lunday seeking more information about how the swastika policy was changed in the first place; but, Stevens told JTA, the group never heard back. In an interview, Stevens expressed surprise and alarm.

“Now, several weeks later, we’re back to the original outrage,” he told JTA. “It makes no sense. Is this bad staffing? Was this intentional? Just what is going on in that office?”

If Lunday was truly unaware of the policy change, Stevens said, “then he should not be the commandant.”

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington also expressed its outrage. “Labeling Nazi swastika symbols and nooses as ‘potentially divisive’ suggests there is some context in which their use is appropriate,” the group’s CEO, Ron Halber, said in a statement. “Nothing could be further from the truth; few symbols have ever conveyed such unambiguous hate.”

The Anti-Defamation League struck a tone of exhaustion, writing on X, “Here we go again.”

On the Senate floor, Chuck Schumer, the Jewish Senate minority leader, linked the Coast Guard’s actions to the Hanukkah terror attack in Australia over the weekend.

“Not four days ago, as I mentioned, 15 Jews were slaughtered in cold blood,” Schumer said Wednesday. “And a day later, the Trump administration chose to soften its stance against Nazis and swastikas. Can you believe it? Can it get any lower?”

Schumer also called the policy change “a ‘stand back and stand by’ in the form of an office memo,” referring to Trump’s remarks directed at the Proud Boys, a far-right group, during his 2020 reelection campaign.

Most significantly, one of Schumer’s Jewish colleagues has taken immediate action in an effort to discipline Lunday.

Late Wednesday, Sen. Jacky Rosen joined Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat and military veteran who is not Jewish, in putting Lunday’s nomination to lead the Coast Guard on hold, citing the swastika policy. Lunday’s bid to become its permanent commandant requires Senate confirmation, with a full vote having been scheduled for this week.

“According to this newest reporting, it seems that Admiral Lunday and the Coast Guard have gone back on their commitment to clearly stating what their policy towards swastikas and nooses is and, instead, have implemented a policy that downgrades the seriousness of these hate symbols,” Rosen wrote on X. She claimed that, after the latest Post story broke, the Coast Guard began to “evade our questions and refuse to give a straight answer.”

“As it appears that Admiral Lunday may have backtracked on his commitment to me to combat antisemitism and hate crimes and protect all members of the Coast Guard, I will be placing a hold on his nomination until the Coast Guard provides answers,” Rosen continued.

Some Republicans have also expressed concerns about Lunday’s nomination after the swastika stories.

Classifying swastikas and nooses as “potentially divisive,” rather than hate symbols, means that the Coast Guard may not remove them immediately if a service member was found to have used the signage.

The Coast Guard is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, whose social media accounts in the Trump era have been accused of tweeting antisemitic dog whistles. A DHS spokesperson, while acknowledging rising antisemitism, accused Rosen and others of trying to score “cheap political points.”

“At a time when the threat of antisemitic violence is as widespread as it is right now, using this to politicize one of President Trump’s military nominations is simply disgusting,” spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the Post.

Late Wednesday, the Coast Guard’s official X account again denied the Post’s reporting, stating, “The Coast Guard maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward hate symbols, extremist ideology, and any conduct that undermines our core values.”

This story has been updated with comment from Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America.