Episode 24: Mapping Zionist Oppression

First aired on 09 July 2022

The Mapping project is a collective project of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions – or BDS - group in Boston which aims to map the intersection of the Zionist movement and elements of US imperial power and action.

They say their goal in producing ‘collective mapping’ was to reveal ‘local entities and networks that enact devastation, so we can dismantle them’.

They state: "every entity has an address, every network can be disrupted." Unsurprisingly the project was immediately threatened by Zionist groups being denounced by the Anti-Defamation League (or ADL) which quite rightly features in the maps for its role in radicalising US police departments with Islamophobic Zionist counter terror tactics.

The ADL has also operated since before the creation of Israeli regime to target Arab Americans and accuse them of anti-Semitism. As the Mapping Project correctly states the ADL has worked hand in glove with the FBI ever since and currently operates as a lobby group pursuing manufactured anti-Semitism claims as well as fulfilling its function as a spy agency on behalf of Mossad.

The Mapping Project was also denounced by the Jerusalem Post. Failing to see the irony, the Post cited Zionist, as opposed to ‘Jewish’, groups criticizing the project, including the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Zionist regime asset, StandWithUS.

"Israel strongly condemns BDS Boston’s publication of a map of local Jews and its blaming them for anything and everything wrong in Greater Boston," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat. "This publication reveals the true, ugly face of BDS Boston, which is a conspiratorial antisemitic organization.

We call on all decent people to come out against this publication, and to condemn the organization and those behind this racist campaign." StandWithUs claimed that the project is “mapping out and targeting synagogues, Jewish schools and other Jewish institutions” and “slanderously claiming these organizations are actively participating in the 'colonization of Palestine'”.

But colonization is exactly what they are supporting. Shockingly, however, the BDS movement said it ‘did not endorse’ the project and Ariel Gold, the alleged ‘Palestine rights advocate’, stated that ‘It literally targets Jewish teen and youth organizations.’ Some of the defenders of the project have been notably defensive in response.

One defence widely used is that the project does not single out ‘Jewish’ institutions because less than 30 of the relevant institutions can be considered ‘Jewish’. However, the key point to be clear about here is that these are not groups that relate only to the Jewish faith or Jewish community as a whole, rather every one that is mentioned is directly involved in pro-Israel advocacy.

They should all, therefore, be described as Zionist, not ‘Jewish’ groups. The fact is that lists, diagrams and briefing on the many ways in which Zionist groups ally with imperial powers and subvert anti-racism is essential.

It is perfectly legitimate to target ‘Jewish’ groups that support Zionist crimes, just as it is to target Christian groups that do the same. The Mapping Project, to its credit is already doing that.

The best response to this from BDS Boston should be to intensify the targeting of Zionist and pro-Israel groups so they can be more effectively seen and held accountable. The project should be rolled out in all 50 US states as well as internationally. In the end, of course, like all other racist groups, each one will have to be dismantled as part of the process of liberating Palestine.