Proposed Ban Roiling Park Slope Co-op
A neighborhood institution known for its earnestness and political correctness, the Park Slope Co-op now finds itself at the center of a mounting media circus revolving around a recent proposal by a member to ban products from Israel as a statement of protest against the state’s recent actions in Gaza. About 10 people reportedly support…
A neighborhood institution known for its earnestness and political correctness, the Park Slope Co-op now finds itself at the center of a mounting media circus revolving around a recent proposal by a member to ban products from Israel as a statement of protest against the state’s recent actions in Gaza. About 10 people reportedly support the measure; the Co-op has about 15,000 members. While on a practical level all that’s at stake here is a few boxes of peppers and persimmons, the symbolism is causing controversy throughout the neighborhood and beyond. There are so many Jews who shop there, there are so many Israelis who shop there, there’s a huge number of frum people from all over Brooklyn who shop there, said Rabbi Andy Bachman of Beth Elohim in the original article in the Jewish Daily Forward, so my guess is that if it passes, and I want to emphasize that I don’t think it will, they will lose a lot of members. Assemblyman Dov Hikind echoed these sentiments: “[The co-op would] lose a great number of people,” he told The Post. Even TimeOut New York has chimed in: “The motion feels born from the very stiff and self-righteous soapbox awareness that many naysayers feel makes the Co-op unpalatable under normal circumstances,” writes TONY, making to sure to add “we support the Co-op’s open forum for this kind of divisive dialogue.” Still no word on where Adrian Grenier stands on the issue.
Food Fight: Brooklyn Co-op Mulls Israel Ban [Forward]
Park Slope Co-op to Ban Israeli Products? [TONY]
‘Ban Israel’ Bid Mushrooms Into B’klyn Food Fight [NY Post]
Photo by pseudoreal
And 100. That’s a wrap.
tiptoe- you’re really beginning to sound like an ass. I haven’t accused you of anything except complaining that people are talking about what’s happening at the co-op. You say the 10 people there have the right to say what they want and my argument is so do we posters on brownstoner. How that becomes me calling you an anti-semite or slamming anything is really more about your paranoia, and nothing else.
If you need to foam at the mouth, please do so-its your right of freedom of speech. And my free speech right is to tell you the only one lacking in reasonableness and reading comprehension is you. Maybe you should re-read what I said before you go off half-cocked again.
I could give two craps about this issue, but if it’ll help thin the crowds at the co-op, I say “ban the schnitzel.”
Goldie, if you were just trying to simmer things down, I think you’ve achieved the exact opposite. Good thing it’s near the end of the day.
i know it is tiptoe, then they should just be honest and boil it down to “we hate israel. we dont want to discuss the thousands of rockets launched, suicide bombings, and kidnapped/murdered soldiers on the palestinian’s part”
well, goldie, i guess gaza is fresh in those 10 people’s minds. I’m quite certain that the Co-op does not carry anything from China though, perhaps for other reasons than human rights reasons, and maybe this was put to a vote. But, how would we know unless we are members of the co-op and attended a general meeting?
tiptoe – the annoyance here is that this is a bias wrapped under the guise of general concern for human rights. yet nothing is being said about the products from china, syria, lebanon, venezuela, etc.
I’m not here to vilify the coop, but I am very comfortable mocking it. Is it wrong if I want a professional manager to make management decisions? Democracy isnt always the answer.
goldie….they should have been arrested and thrown out.