editorials
The Mapping Project Names Names
O ur community is already on edge
because of the alarming rise in
antisemitism, including direct attacks
on Jews in synagogues, at commercial
establishments and on neighborhood
streets. Last week, things got worse. The
Mapping Project, a pro-Palestinian
group in Boston, took things to a
new, disturbing level, with frighten-
ing implications.

The Mapping Project is an activ-
ist collective that is aligned with
the boycott, divestment and sanc-
tions movement. It believes there
are harmful connections between
Jewish and pro-Israel groups and
government, the police and the
media, that are responsible for a lot
of bad things. It posits that “institu-
tional support for the colonization of
Palestine is structurally tied to polic-
ing and systemic white supremacy
here where we live, and to US impe-
rialist projects in other countries.”
In other words, the Mapping Project
has recycled the hateful mantra of
antisemites everywhere that the
Zionist conspiracy is the root of all evil.

In furtherance of its point, the
Mapping Project created and pub-
lished an interactive state-wide map
designed to expose “local institu-
tional support for the colonization
of Palestine” and a litany of other
societal problems. The map shows
a web of connections linking hun-
dreds of Massachusetts Jewish
the organization’s address and, for
many, the names of lay and profes-
sional leadership of the organization.

While the Mapping Project doesn’t
call for specific action against the
identified organizations or their
members, the potential for harass-
ment and harm is clear, and is clearly
intended. Indeed, the Mapping
What is particularly upsetting is that
there is nothing that can be done to undo
the damage of the Mapping Project.

groups, schools, universities, politi-
cal groups and charities, with several
references to the amount of money
controlled by some of the entities,
and making no distinction between a
day school and a pro-Israel political
organization — or even between J
Street and the ZOA.

But it gets worse. The Mapping
Project names names — and provides
addresses. It lists the webpage for
each identified entity, which includes
Project tells its supporters: “Our goal
… [is] to reveal the local entities and
networks that enact devastation, so
that we can dismantle them. Every
entity has an address, every network
can be disrupted.” The invitation for
mischief could not be more explicit.

The Massachusetts Jewish com-
munity and communal, religious
and political leaders of all stripes
responded promptly and forcefully
to the Mapping Project’s outrageous
actions, with many expressing con-
cern about possible incitement to
violence. The Mapping Project itself
has been silent. And neither its web-
site nor its publications identify any
of its members.

What is particularly upsetting is
that there is nothing that can be done
to undo the damage of the Mapping
Project’s actions. The information
they have published cannot be with-
drawn. And the blatantly antisemitic
enemies list they have created puts
organizations and individuals at risk.

The Mapping Project will likely
invoke the questionable assertion
that “being anti-Zionist is not antise-
mitic.” And it will surely invoke the
First Amendment’s protection of
freedom of speech.

But neither argument cuts it
here. The ugliness of the Mapping
Project’s publication along with the
clear incitement to action is wrong,
dangerous and irresponsible. It’s also
antisemitic. The First Amendment
does not protect the right to incite
violence against Jews or anyone
else. JE
The Complexities of Biden’s Visit to
Saudi Arabia
W hy is President Joe Biden
going to Saudi Arabia next
month? During his presidential campaign
and for most of his first year in office,
Biden treated the kingdom’s impe-
rious and murderous Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman as a pariah.

But that was when the price of gas-
oline was around $2 a gallon. And it
was also at a time when the murder
and decapitation of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi, at the crown prince’s
direction, plus a ruinous Saudi-led
war in Yemen, were big problems for
the oil kingdom.

Now, however, the calculation is
different. With U.S. gasoline prices
rising well above $5 a gallon and
most of the western world refusing
to buy oil from Russia because of
10 Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
invasion of Ukraine, neither Saudi oil
nor the crown prince look as bad as
they once did.

So, Biden is making the trip. But
he won’t admit that he will embrace
Saudi Arabia and its autocratic lead-
ership in order to firm up world oil
availability. Instead, he claims that
his visit is driven more by security
concerns than the price of gasoline.

And he says, “I’m not going to meet
with MBS [the crown prince]. I’m
going to an international meeting,
and he’s going to be part of it.”
The president will start his trip
in Israel and will also meet with
Palestinian leaders. That will be the
easy part of the trip. It is when he
gets to Saudi Arabia that friends and
foes will be watching carefully to see
JUNE 23, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
whether Biden can pull off a Saudi
Arabian summit with so many built-in
contradictions. Israel welcomes the visit to the
kingdom as another step in the
Abraham Accords process in which
the United States has used its lever-
age to encourage Arab states to
establish formal ties with Israel.

Saudi Arabia would be the jewel in
the crown of the universally praised
Abraham Accords. Back home, how-
ever, the visit has been criticized by
a wide range of interests, including
democracy and human-rights advo-
cates, media figures, Republican pol-
iticians and even some of Biden’s
fellow Democrats. Each of the critics
raises significant policy or diplomatic
concerns that create a complicated
list of issues that need to be navi-
gated by the president in his Saudi
meetings. Thus, beyond the highly publicized
human rights concerns, Abraham
Accords issues and oil pricing and
production, there is the Saudi war
effort in Yemen, the Khashoggi mur-
der and Saudi concerns about a pos-
sible reentry of the U.S. into an Iran
nuclear deal. And, of course, there
are lingering questions about why
it is necessary for Biden to ask the
Saudis to produce more oil when the
United States, as the world’s largest
oil producer, should be able to do
that itself.

There are a lot of moving diplo-
matic and policy parts relating to
Biden’s Saudi visit. That’s a lot to
juggle. We hope the president is up
to it. JE