BDS Mapping Project Backfires

Last week I was one of many to post about the insidious mapping project created by a group of leftist Israel-haters, which I pointed out “would not look out of place on a Neo Nazi website.”

Since then, many have joined the chorus of condemnation – include someone you might not have expected.

Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Jake Auchincloss, Seth Moulton and Ritchie Torres each separately condemned the Mapping Project this week in statements. Pressley, Auchincloss and Moulton represent districts in Massachusetts; Torres represents a New York congressional district.

Their statements followed a denunciation of the map by Boston’s largest communal Jewish organizations.

“There is no doubt that antisemitism and organized, violent white supremacy are at a boiling point in this nation and threaten our communities,” Pressley said in her statement. She added, “It is not acceptable to target or make vulnerable Jewish institutions or organizations, full stop.”

Pressley’s statement was notable because she is a member of the progressive “Squad” of representatives who include Israel’s strongest critics in Congress, Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Pressley herself voted in 2019, shortly after being elected, to condemn the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement targeting Israel. But since then, she has expressed increasing solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

Pressley’s statement is, of course, insufficient; she refers to “antisemitism and organized, violent white supremacy“, even though this mapping project is another example of Left-wing antisemitism. She is essentially saying that it paints a target on the backs of Jews to make it easier for the “violent” antisemites aka right-wing ones to attack them. But she should be worried about the violent left-wing, Islamic, and even Black antisemites doing the same.

Yet her statement is still significant because she is a “Squad” member. This is a slap in the face of the mapping project creators, but also her fellow squad members like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, whose silence about this project is even more noticeable, given the accusations of antisemitism levelled against them.

Scroll to Top