It’s been almost exactly three years since a member of the Park Slope Food Co-op first proposed banning products from Israel, and the Wall Street Journal reports today that the controversial action is still being considered by the cooperative. Next month the co-op will hold a meeting at which members will vote on whether to hold a referendum on the proposed boycott. Here’s the back story:

An artist and filmmaker who goes by the name Hima B began the push for the co-op to join the global Israeli boycott movement known as BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions). She and others in support of BDS believe economic pressure will lead to an end to what they view as an apartheid system against Palestinians. Lobbying against a referendum is a group that has coined itself “More Hummus Please.” To them, the BDS movement is misguided, discriminatory and smacks of anti-Semitism. “I oppose BDS in general but I particularly oppose it for the food co-op because they are trying to impose a political point of view on an entire population that didn’t get together for the sake of supporting political causes, but got together to save on food,” said “More Hummus Please” founder Barbara Mazor, a 23-year member of the co-op and Orthodox Jew.

The meeting next month is supposed to draw such a big crowd (possibly around 1,000 people) that the co-op is holding it in Brooklyn Tech’s auditorium. One of the big questions is whether the ban, if enacted, would result in the co-op losing a great number of members.
Food Co-op Readies for Boycott Vote [WSJ]
Proposed Ban Roiling Park Slope Co-op [Brownstoner]
Photo by wallyg


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