Dubbed as an antisemitic “roadmap for Jew-haters” in the Boston Globe, “old school antisemitism” in the Washington Post, and a “thinly veiled threat” against Boston’s Jewish community by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), The Mapping Project’s recently published report has been the subject of intense condemnation, scrutiny, and even FBI monitoring. On social media, people have been quick to brigade every instance of the report being shared with images of nazi propaganda, crudely comparing the report to the antisemitic conspiracy theories propagated throughout nazi germany. According to these zionist critics, the report not only targets Jewish institutions but it puts a target on the back of every Jew.
Yet, it doesn’t. This is a lie.
What does The Mapping Project do
The Mapping Project is a “multi-generational collective of activists and organizers on the land of the Massachusett, Pawtucket, Naumkeag, and other tribal nations (Boston, Cambridge, and surrounding areas).” Their goal was to “develop a deeper understanding of local institutional support for the colonization of Palestine and harms that [they] see as linked, such as policing, US imperialism, and displacement/ethnic cleansing.” The report, true to their description, provides a map with a myriad of government institutions, police departments, military, universities, non-profits, corporations, banks, property developers, and weapons manufacturers- 483 entities in total. The map clearly, meticulously, and specifically describes not just how these organizations harm both the local area and the global landscape but also how they are connected to each other. The harms the project track include, among others, ableism, health harms, zionism, ecological harm, prison and policing, and US imperialism.
Presented alongside the interactive map are a series of excellent essays that explore some of the major themes and connections that The Mapping Project found while collecting this information. For example, one explores Boston’s Colonial Universities, another explores gentrification, and yet another explores the many connections between zionism, counter-terrorism, and policing. I encourage you to read through all of them.
Despite the broad focus of The Mapping Project’s interactive map and its series of essays, zionist critics have continued to claim that the project is essentially just a map of Jews and Jewish communal institutions.
How many of the entities are actually Jewish
Of the 483 entities highlighted by The Mapping Project, over half are police departments or part of the prison-industrial complex. 40 are universities, 14 are construction companies, 10 are military, 10 are banks or investment firms, and another 10 are large healthcare or pharmaceutical companies.
Now, determining which entities should be recognized as “Jewish” entities is somewhat difficult. While a few of the included organizations are obviously and unambiguously Jewish - the Jewish Arts Collaborative and Synagogue Council of Massachusetts, for example - many organizations are harder to locate. The Mapping Project’s report includes numerous organizations that engage in some form of zionist advocacy, Jewish and not Jewish. I personally counted a zionist advocacy organization as “Jewish” if it primarily identified as a Jewish organization or, in its mission statement, focused around Jewish community, Jewish culture, or Jewish issues.
For example, the ADL, AIPAC, the Hillel Council of New England, and the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) all engage in zionist advocacy of various types. Yet, of these four, I only consider the ADL and Hillel Council to be “Jewish” entities. Hillel’s mission statement is “Enriching the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.” Clearly this is a Jewish-focused organization. Compare this to the Zionist Organization of America’s mission statement: “The ZOA speaks out for Israel — in reports, newsletters, and other publications. In speeches in synagogues, churches, and community events, in high schools and colleges from coast to coast. In e-mail action alerts. In op-eds and letters to the editor. In radio and television appearances by ZOA leaders. Always on the front lines of pro-Israel activism, ZOA has made its mark.” This clearly emphasizes that ZOA’s primary focus is on promoting zionism.
The ADL’s mission statement, for an additional example, is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” This mission statement is clearly centered around Jewish people. Compare this to AIPAC’s mission statement: “to encourage and persuade the U.S. government to enact specific policies that create a strong, enduring and mutually beneficial relationship with our ally Israel.” This is not really focused on Jewish people.
With that in mind, I believe that no more than 30 of the 483 entities in The Mapping Project can sincerely be described as “Jewish.” These are organizations that are embedded in the Jewish community, who primarily identify themselves as Jewish organizations, or who promote or create Jewish culture. That means only ~6% of the entities included in The Mapping Project’s report can sincerely be described as Jewish entities. For reference, Jews make up approximately 7% of the population of Boston. The Mapping Project, therefore, is clearly not just “a list of Jews.”
Why are Jewish organizations included
It is undeniable that some of the organizations included in The Mapping Project’s report are Jewish organizations. But, importantly, no organization or entity was included because it is Jewish.
The Mapping Project clearly and precisely specifies why it includes every entry. For example, their entry for the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts makes clear that they are included because of their “long history of coordinating pro-Israel events as well as “missions to Israel” for MA residents.” Additionally, they are included for their outspoken opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Their inclusion is solely based on their direct support for zionist colonialism. The Synagogue Council of Massachusetts received the same treatment as the Boston United Pentecostal Church, which was highlighted in The Mapping Project for co-hosting events with the antisemitic right wing zionist organization Christians United for Israel.
Another Jewish organization that is included in The Mapping Project’s report is the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Boston. Their extensive entry ranges from pushing officials to pass pro-israel legislation and oppose pro-Palestine legislation to sending Boston City Council members on all-expenses-paid propaganda trips to israel. Again, their inclusion is unrelated to their Judaism and is only focused on their support for zionism.
Finally, zionists honed in on the ADL’s inclusion in The Mapping Project’s report as proof that it is antisemitic. Specifically, zionists fixated on the graph above, which shows the ADL’s many connections to universities, police departments, and NGOs. According to them, the map blamed the ills of society on Jews via blaming the ADL- a dubious and overreaching conclusion. Their argument was that the map is a conspiracy theory akin to the nazi “octopus” propaganda. But, in reality, the graph does not blame Jews for anything and it is not conspiratorial in nature. The graph shows the real links between one specific organization and a host of other specific organizations, none of which are kept secret. The ADL is quite proud of and open about its collaboration with (and support for) police and the FBI, its collaboration with educational institutions, corporations, and the israeli government, and its zionist advocacy. The ADL is not included because it is Jewish, but because, among other things, as The Mapping Project writes, “the ADL facilitates collaborations between US law enforcement and Israeli state, military, and security forces” and because the ADL “is deeply invested in the power and dominance of the US state itself, as they have been throughout their century-long history.” The connections on the graph represent real connections, in real life ,between the ADL and a host of imperialist and zionist outcomes- exactly what The Mapping Project claims.
Conclusion
The Mapping Project does not target Jewish institutions. It is impossible to read the meticulously researched essays and scan through their interactive map and believe that. The Mapping Project targets a wide range of organizations that are complicit in, or directly participate in, zionism, imperialism, racism, ableism and a host of other forms of systemic oppression.
