BDS's Boston Mapping Project published a "solidarity statement" in support of the Nablus-based terrorist group Lions' Den, who claimed responsibility for several terror attacks in recent weeks, before turning themselves over to Palestinian security forces earlier this week.
The project, which charts Jewish and Zionist institutions in Boston and frames them as "structurally tied" to US media, police and government, released a statement via its Twitter account, voicing support for "the martyrs of Palestine murdered by US-backed Zionist forces."
Listing the names of the Lions' Den members killed or arrested by Israeli security forces in recent weeks, the Mapping Project said that it "stands in solidarity with the resistance in Palestine, Nablus especially, and opposes zionist [sic] and comprador attempts to quell the growing popular resistance."
"Glory to the martyrs," the statement concluded.
In a series of 18 tweets, the project reaffirmed its "support for resistance to colonialism on the ground by any means necessary," and their support for "Palestinians within the colonial prisons of the zionist occupation and the slaughterhouses of the Palestinian Authority."
The Mapping Project stands in solidarity with the resistance in Palestine, Nablus especially, and opposes zionist and comprador attempts to quell the growing popular resistance. https://t.co/171LwbBPD9 pic.twitter.com/LbNXOIeq7R
— The Mapping Project #ElbitIsGuilty (@MappingProj48) October 28, 2022
As well as criticizing Israeli forces and American security officials that they claim assisted in the arrests of the terrorists, the US-based group also lashed out at the Palestinian Authority, calling them "anti-liberation."
The Mapping Project stands in solidarity with the resistance in Palestine, Nablus especially, and opposes zionist and comprador attempts to quell the growing popular resistance. [1/18]
— The Mapping Project #ElbitIsGuilty (@MappingProj48) October 26, 2022
The Boston BDS group's statements regarding the Lions' Den come after multiple arrests and raids were carried out by the IDF against the terror organization in recent days, which culminated in the surrender of four operatives, including top commander Mahmoud al-Bana.
Prior to the group's surrender to Palestinian security forces, however, the IDF had already arrested several members of the militia and killed one of the group's founders Wadee al-Houh, among others.
What is the Boston Mapping Project?
The Boston Mapping Project came to public attention in June after publishing an interactive mapping project that it claimed allowed people to cultivate an understanding of "Boston area institutional support for the colonization of Palestine."
The map highlighted people and movements that the BDS group identified as pro-Israel, including Jewish community organizations, religious organizations and even Jewish schools.
Shortly after the group was formed, the ADL defined it as antisemitic, blaming it for using "familiar antisemitic tropes" including myths of Jewish wealth and power.
As well as facing criticism from within the Jewish community, the group has also become controversial among other BDS institutions, who have tried to distance themselves from it and demanded the Boston group drop the BDS acronym from all of its activities.
In June, the BDS movement published an announcement on Twitter saying that the organization "has no connection to and does not endorse the Mapping Project in Boston, Massachusetts."
The BDS movement claimed in a letter to the Boston group that they are "promoting messaging which indirectly advocates for armed resistance and associating with groups that do."I have obtained a letter that @BDSmovement sent to @BDSBoston telling them to take down the Mapping Project from their social media or else "remove the BDS acronym from your name." "The association of the BDS name with such groups and activities hurts our entire movement." pic.twitter.com/czRYWFLjRL
— Aaron Bandler (@bandlersbanter) June 22, 2022
“The project unstrategically targets and provides names and ‘physical addresses’ of institutions and individuals, and promotes messaging that includes phrases such as ‘resistance in all its forms,’” the BDS movement wrote to the project.