A neighborhood cornerstone<\/p>\n
The co-op, founded in 1972, is a longstanding cornerstone in the tony Brooklyn neighborhood known for its progressive politics and elegant brownstones. Only members are allowed to shop at the store, in exchange for working shifts in its aisles of organic products. Outside the entrance, members who request help carrying their purchases wait on benches, where \u201cwalkers\u201d on shifts meet them to escort them home.<\/p>\n
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) vote against Israel has formed a rupture in that community.<\/p>\n
\t Coordinators at the co-op told members last week that Tuesday\u2019s general meeting on the boycott would take place via Zoom due to security concerns and the expected large turnout.<\/p>\n \u201cStaff, presenters, Chair committee, and other members have all raised explicit concerns about their safety, attending the meeting in person,\u201d the coordinators said in an email obtained by The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n In an internal email to members last week, the co-op\u2019s management said that disagreements over the vote had \u201cescalated into verbal confrontations and, in some cases, physical altercations\u201d between members.<\/p>\n Threats, hostility, and security guards<\/p>\n The co-op has also received threats that \u201crequired coordination with the NYPD,\u201d the email said.<\/p>\n Starting on Tuesday, the co-op placed security guards at the store entrance, while asking for members to \u201capproach one another with the cooperative spirit that has sustained this community for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n Some members of the co-op\u2019s chair committee had told coordinators that, due to \u201cconcerns about hostility and reputational risk,\u201d they were unwilling to chair meetings related to Israel.<\/p>\n Jewish members told the co-op\u2019s management that they had been \u201csystematically targeted and vilified\u201d for years, had felt unsafe and harassed, had been labeled \u201cgenocide supporters,\u201d and had been called \u201cevil Zionists.\u201d<\/p>\n The pro-BDS group said that \u201cZionists\u201d were attempting to \u201cshut down our boycott vote with intimidation and fear\u201d in an email to supporters.<\/p>\n During one meeting with the co-op\u2019s Dispute Resolution Committee, a BDS advocate derided an opponent for \u201cJewish privilege.\u201d Other activists refused to speak with those they deemed \u201cZionists,\u201d according to complaints sent to the co-op\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n Last month, during a meeting, a speaker railed against \u201cJewish supremacy,\u201d<\/a> to some applause from other attendees.<\/p>\n \t The BDS vote is largely symbolic. The boycott campaign said<\/a> it would apply to eight products, such as three tahini brands and Osem Bamba, plus \u201cIsraeli produce.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the group\u2019s demands was the \u201cright of return\u201d for the descendants of all Palestinians displaced in the 1948 war, which would effectively end Israel\u2019s existence as a Jewish majority state. The founder of the BDS movement has said<\/a> that the campaign rejects the existence of a Jewish state.<\/p>\n City leaders weigh in<\/p>\n Local elected officials, rabbis<\/a>, leading Jewish groups<\/a>, hardline anti-Zionist activist groups<\/a>, members of Congress<\/a>, and Congressional candidates all weighed in on the dispute.<\/p>\n New York City Speaker Julie Menin, ahead of the vote, said in a Tuesday statement to The Times of Israel that the co-op \u201chas long brought together people from all walks of life around community, inclusion, and shared purpose,\u201d but that the BDS vote \u201cserves to further divide New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday, around 10 campaigners, from both sides, lined the sidewalk in front of the store as a security guard watched from inside the entrance. Customers stopped to chat with both groups, or announced their vote as they walked past.<\/p>\n The pro-BDS camp held up a printout of the co-op\u2019s mission statement, pointing to a line that said, \u201cWe seek to avoid products that depend on the exploitation of others.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a food justice organization, not just a grocery store,\u201d one of them shouted.<\/p>\n \u201cWe started the co-op to have organic food at reasonable prices. You\u2019d have to boycott every American product,\u201d a woman who said she had been a member since the 1970s told them. \u201cWhere could we get anything?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really annoying when people yell at me,\u201d an elderly woman said.<\/p>\n \t One of the Jewish campaigners said anti-BDS members, expecting to stop buying at the store if the vote passed, were doing a \u201clast stop shop\u201d in the hours before the vote. He predicted that hundreds of Jewish members would quit if the vote passed.<\/p>\n A \u2018great disappointment\u2019<\/p>\n Greg Snyder, a Park Slope native whose family has been involved at the co-op for about 10 years, passed out fliers opposing the boycott that said, \u201cBring back cooperation. Stop polarization.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that the boycott punished independent food producers who were not responsible for the actions of their government.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy stop at Israel? Let\u2019s just go all the way. Let\u2019s do it for the goods that the co-op imports from China. Let\u2019s do it for the goods that the co-op imports from Pakistan, from Indonesia, from Russia, from the US,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s do it for all of the goods that the co-op imports, and then sooner or later you\u2019ll have no co-op.\u201d<\/p>\n Snyder said he was raised in a mixed Christian and Jewish household, by a Syrian-Lebanese mother and an Ashkenazi father. A tattoo on his forearm reads, \u201cMay you be kept safe for me,\u201d in Arabic, an expression his grandparents used. He grew closer to Judaism following Hamas\u2019s October 2023 onslaught in Israel, leading to his involvement in the boycott campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t about any one conflict or anything. This is about being inclusive, setting up an environment of cooperation, and not setting a poor precedent of implementing exclusionary practices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260526_untitled_07673.jpg\")
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\n\t\tA sign for a campaign against an Israel boycott at the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, New York City, May 26, 2026. (Luke Tress\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260526_untitled_07685.jpg\")
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\n\t\tCampaigners for and against a BDS referendum at the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, New York City, May 26, 2026. (Luke Tress\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260526_untitled_07674.jpg\")
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\n\t\tThe entrance sign for the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, New York City, May 26, 2026. (Luke Tress\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260526_untitled_07701.jpg\")
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