Spanish Jews file complaint over digital map labeling Israel-linked and Jewish businesses

The map did not differentiate between Jewish-owned local shops, communal institutions, Israeli firms, and multinational companies operating in Israel.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Members of Spain’s Jewish community lodged a formal complaint last week with the French online platform GoGoCarto after an interactive mapping project publicly identified and categorized Jewish-linked businesses across the Catalonia region, according to reports published Friday.

The project, known as “Barcelonaz,” appeared online earlier this month and was promoted by an anonymous collective describing itself as “journalists, professors, and students.” According to Enfoque Judío, the site encouraged users to submit locations and tag them as “Zionist,” creating an open-ended database that ultimately listed more than 150 entities.

The map did not differentiate between Jewish-owned local shops, communal institutions, Israeli firms, or multinational companies operating in Israel.

The initiative stated that its purpose was to “understand how (Zionism) operates and the forms it takes, with the intention of making visible and denouncing the impact of its investments in our territory.”

Jewish community representatives said the framing effectively stigmatized Jewish presence and economic activity in the region.

By Friday afternoon, the website had been taken offline. Pilar Rahola, who serves as chair of the Advisory Board for Latin America of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, said the page was no longer accessible.

In a statement, CAM’s director of European Affairs, Shannon Seban, condemned the project in sharp terms. “The mapping and boycotting of Jewish businesses in Catalonia is an echo of some of the darkest chapters in history, including the prelude to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany,” Seban said.

“The organizers of this initiative put a target on the backs of Spanish Jews, at a time when Jews are being hunted across the globe, as seen so horrifically in Australia just three weeks ago. Clear incitement to violence of this nature must not be platformed or tolerated by internet companies or government authorities.”

Seban added: “While the website has now been taken down, investigations are ongoing, and CAM is fully mobilized to determine who is behind this initiative and ensure accountability.”

Community leaders noted that the Catalonia case mirrors a similar mapping effort that alarmed Jewish organizations in the Boston area in 2022. CAM said the “Barcelonaz” project reflects a broader pattern of antisemitism in Spain, a trend examined last year by its Antisemitism Research Center.