FBI monitoring BDS map of Boston Jewish institutions

Federal authorities are ‘very well aware and are tracking the Mapping Project website.’

By David Hellerman, World Israel News

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is monitoring a website that posted an interactive map which purports to show illicit ties between “Zionist leaders and powerhouse NGOs” in the Boston area, the Boston Globe reported on Wednesday.

The map was put together by The Mapping Project, whose website describes itself as “a multi-generational collective of activists and organizers … who wanted to develop a deeper understanding of local institutional support for the colonization of Palestine and harms that we see as linked, such as policing, US imperialism, and displacement/ethnic cleansing.”

The map includes Jewish and Israeli institutions running the gamut of Israel’s Consulate in Boston, the Ruderman Family Foundation, Israeli-American Council Boston, the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts, Elbit Systems, AIPAC, J Street, the Anti-Defamation League, two Jewish newspapers, and more.

Staffers at the Jewish organizations are often identified by name.

The map also features Boston-area police stations, hospitals, universities, U.S. military sites, financial and pharmaceutical businesses, the AFL-CIO, various federal, state and local government offices among other institutions, implying a conspiracy between the Jewish and public institutions.

Local Jews say the map is merely intended to intimidate their community.

The FBI disclosed its involvement during a Zoom meeting of Jewish community leaders, according to the Herald.

FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Joseph Bonavolonta told participants that federal authorities are “very well aware and are tracking the Mapping Project website, and are working to identify additional information regarding this website.”

Bonavolonta added, “At this time, we have not observed any direct threats of violence in open sources related to this map as of its publication.”

Jewish leaders said they would not be cowed by the website.

Rabbi Marc Baker, of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, described the Mapping Project as the “latest truly vile perpetration of hate against the Jewish community and our allies.”

This is a threat to all of us, and we will do everything we can to fight it,” Rabbi Baker said. “It’s outrageous and downright scary to see ourselves and our organizations on this list, to see the schools where we send our kids, arts and culture organizations where we are literally creating Jewish life,” he added.

American Jewish organizationsAntisemitismBDSintersectionality