Politicians and Israel orgs bash ‘Mapping Project’ to promote claim that anti-Zionism is deadly to Jews

A month ago the Boston Mapping Project released a report on the extensive “local links between entities responsible for the colonization of Palestine… and for the economy of imperialism and war… policing… and displacement.” That map included a great number of establishment organizations in Boston, but it unleashed a storm of criticism for including Jewish groups. According to one analysis, the project identifies 483 entities and just 6 percent of them are Jewish, but this hasn’t stopped critics from claiming that the maps somehow target Jews.

A number of mainstream pro-Israel groups and politicians have made the Mapping Project into a punching bag, saying that it contributes to rising antisemitism. These attacks have a tactical flavor: the groups are using the Mapping Project to bash the campaign targeting Israel with boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) and to affirm the center-right pro-Israel line that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. A group of Congress members even stated that the project was likely to result in “violent attacks by supporters of the BDS movement” against Jews and Jewish organizations. The FBI has met with Jewish groups in Boston and said it is “tracking” the project over these concerns. There is no history of anti-Zionist activist violence against Jews or Jewish organizations; though there were a handful of attacks on Jews that occurred during Israel’s May 2021 onslaught on Gaza and protests here.

In our efforts to track the effects of the project (which Weiss has defended), here are some of the mainstream pro-Israel responses.

Massachusetts politicians have been called on to condemn the report, and have. Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren denounced the Mapping Project, with the approval of the Democratic Majority for Israel. The two said it was “dangerous and irresponsible” at a time of “rising antisemitism, racist attacks, and political violence.”

Rep. Jake Auchincloss, whose district includes Boston suburbs, equated the Mapping Project with the BDS campaign.

Boston BDS & the Mapping Project are tapping into millennia-old antisemitic tropes. To name names & keep lists, which has a sinister resonance to the targeting of Jews throughout history, is irresponsible. They need to take down the map & apologize

Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Boston, a member of the Squad, condemned the project but in somewhat general terms, and did not say it should be taken down.

It is not acceptable to target or make vulnerable Jewish institutions or organizations, full stop. There is no doubt that antisemitism and organized, violent white supremacy are at a boiling point in this nation and threaten our communities…

The criticism is not just local. New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a staunch Israel supporter, organized a letter from 37 members of Congress, 28 of them Democrats, alleging that the Mapping Project was going to result in “violent attacks by supporters of the BDS movement” against Jews and Jewish organizations.

“We fear that this map may be used as a roadmap for violent attacks by supporters of the BDS movement against the people and entities listed,” the Members of Congress wrote in a letter this week. “We ask that you investigate the use of the Mapping Project by extremist organizations, provide any necessary enhanced security for targets listed in the Project, and work with social media companies and internet service providers to prevent its further distribution. We must not turn a blind eye to this dangerous incitement.”

That letter was applauded by the ADL.

The Democrats signing the letter are largely rightwing on Israel– i.e., never critical– and many are endorsed by the rightwing Democratic Majority for Israel. The group includes Shontel Brown, Henry Cuellar, Ted Deutch, Jared Golden, Carolyn Maloney, Kathy Manning, Dean Phillips, Brad Schneider, Brad Sherman, Albio Sires, Haley Stevens, Dina Titus, Ritchie Torres, David Trone, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Susan Wild.

Jerrold Nadler of New York– who is running against Maloney in a newly combined district — did not sign the letter, but he also used the Mapping Project to attack BDS: “Not only is BDS counterproductive and destructive to Middle East peace, this is an extremely dangerous use of antisemitic tropes that could lead to violence. This group should apologize and take down this reprehensible, grossly antisemitic ‘project’ immediately.”

Haley Stevens of Michigan, who did sign that letter, is a hero to center-right Zionists. Her opponent Andy Levin, in a newly-combined district, has not apparently commented on the Mapping Project. Levin is closely associated with the liberal Israel lobby group J Street. It is named in the report but it also has appeared to avoid the controversy.

In other politician statements… Rep. Grace Meng of New York says the Mapping Project shows that BDS wants to attack Jewish people:

The BDS movement’s “mapping project” is a hateful effort to target Jews and Jewish institutions, and must be met with the strongest condemnation. There is no excuse for trafficking in such antisemitic rhetoric.

Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island:

The Mapping Project is blatant, and dangerous, antisemitism – placing a target on Jewish organizations at a time when antisemitism is at an all time high. This map needs to be taken down.

Here is the FBI’s involvement. From the Jerusalem Post:

The FBI is “very well aware and are tracking the Mapping Project website, and are working to identify additional information regarding this website,” FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Joseph Bonavolonta said at the meeting, according to the Herald. “At this time, we have not observed any direct threats of violence in open sources related to this map as of its publication.”

That FBI briefing was to three groups named in the Mapping Project that are all strong supporters of Israel: The Jewish Community Relations Council, the ADL of New England, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston.

Those groups released a “community” statement on June 8, saying that the Mapping Project demonstrates the dangers of anti-Zionism, characterizing it as a form of antisemitism, which includes “antisemitic attacks on the legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel.” 

The three groups say that linking support for imperialism and police violence and Zionism is just conspiracy theory.

The links in the report draw on age-old antisemitic tropes that are all too clear to our community: Jewish wealth, control and conspiracies.

The Jewish Federations of New England, which supports Israel, called the Mapping Project “sinister.”

The “Mapping Project” is a sinister and antisemitic act that singles out Jewish institutions

In a lengthy statement on all that is supposedly wrong and dangerous about the Mapping Project last week, the American Jewish Committee said that the controversy over the Mapping Project should be used to disqualify the BDS campaign and validate the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which includes anti-Zionist criticisms.

“[W]hile some [supporters of BDS] may sincerely want peace and support human rights ‘BDS leadership in fact seeks nothing less than the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state,’” the AJC said.  

In that statement, Robert Leikind of the AJC also landed on the Mapping Project’s critique of U.S. imperialism, to try to damage BDS:

[The] BDS movement is not just an attack on Israel, but part of a larger ideological attack on the United States and the West.

Leikind urged Israel supporters to use the Mapping Project to lobby for the implementation of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

“It is important to re-engage with the democratic process. Get to know elected officials and let them know what we care about. AJC has put a lot of effort into expanding the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism,” he said. “People should take it to their local elected officials and encourage them to adopt it.”

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism has been adopted by the Biden administration and other governments. Progressives have opposed it and so have some liberal Zionists.