(Jewish Group) 'Against a wall': Boston's Jewish leftists conflicted by BDS map
When a map of Boston companies, nonprofits and individuals labeled as complicit in the colonization of Palestine was published earlier this month, it generated outrage across and beyond the citys Jewish establishment. Leaders of the local federation activated its emergency response network and rallied local politicians to condemn the Mapping Project as dangerous and irresponsible.
Among those alarmed by the project were progressive Jewish leaders who are typically most empathetic to concerns about Israels treatment of Palestinians and most skeptical about claims that criticism of Israel is antisemitic.
Once you call for dismantling the basic Jewish communal infrastructure, youve crossed the line to antisemitism, said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the director of the rabbinic human rights organization Truah, who has previously clashed with establishment groups over how to define antisemitism.
The Mapping Projects creators have remained anonymous. It has been praised on social media by BDS Boston, a local group that backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. But even some activists who also support the boycott raised concerns about tying a corporation like Raytheon, which manufacturers missiles, to the Jewish Arts Collaborative, which hosts cultural events, and acknowledged that providing the addresses of Jewish institutions might scare Jews.
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What's a poor Court Jew to do?!