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FYI - The Mapping Project
Jun. 19th, 2022 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gingicatHi all. A few weeks ago I got an email from Combined Jewish Philanthropies pointing to the Mapping Project. It seems to be advertised by a lot of people who - like me - are against the unequal treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank.
However, it is absolutely indiscriminate. Yes, there are Jewish organizations in Boston that support Israel unquestioningly and do not hold the government accountable. There are plenty of organizations and individuals that do hold the government responsible and work as hard on that as they do on, say, signing petitions to support Indigenous Americans.
The link to the Mapping Project showed up again in a SURJ (Standing Up for Racial Justice) email and I wanted to cry. I wrote back:
I am very sad to see that you are supporting the Mapping Project. There are better ways to get Israel out of Palestine than to lump schoolchildren and unions in with organizations actively working to harm Palestinians.
This list endangers my American Jewish community. We are lucky to be able to pass for White. I get reminded about once a year that we're not.
Please consider ways to help Palestinians without endangering Jews, and do not condone the work of anti-Semites.
Thank you.
Edit: I should also have said "and the people who wrote this think all Jews are White and that it's a White vs Arab thing."
Please, if you are involved in organizations that support Palestinians, keep in mind that Jews are not a monolithic entity and that we're working to combat racism too... and that we encounter microaggressions all of the time. Blanket advertising of an anti-Israel group that also uses anti-Semitic language - and targets day schools - is not a nuanced response.
Thank you for listening.
However, it is absolutely indiscriminate. Yes, there are Jewish organizations in Boston that support Israel unquestioningly and do not hold the government accountable. There are plenty of organizations and individuals that do hold the government responsible and work as hard on that as they do on, say, signing petitions to support Indigenous Americans.
The link to the Mapping Project showed up again in a SURJ (Standing Up for Racial Justice) email and I wanted to cry. I wrote back:
I am very sad to see that you are supporting the Mapping Project. There are better ways to get Israel out of Palestine than to lump schoolchildren and unions in with organizations actively working to harm Palestinians.
This list endangers my American Jewish community. We are lucky to be able to pass for White. I get reminded about once a year that we're not.
Please consider ways to help Palestinians without endangering Jews, and do not condone the work of anti-Semites.
Thank you.
Edit: I should also have said "and the people who wrote this think all Jews are White and that it's a White vs Arab thing."
Please, if you are involved in organizations that support Palestinians, keep in mind that Jews are not a monolithic entity and that we're working to combat racism too... and that we encounter microaggressions all of the time. Blanket advertising of an anti-Israel group that also uses anti-Semitic language - and targets day schools - is not a nuanced response.
Thank you for listening.
