{"id":255436,"date":"2026-06-04T17:32:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/255436\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T17:32:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:32:23","slug":"behind-the-park-slope-food-co-ops-vote-to-boycott-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/255436\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Park Slope Food Co-op\u2019s Vote to Boycott Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

As of last week, Israeli products are no more at Brooklyn\u2019s Park Slope Food Co-Op.\u00a0Organic asparagus, Gruy\u00e8re, and exotic fruits might remain on store shelves, but a successful motion<\/a>\u00a0backed by 67 percent of attendees at a recent co-op general meeting means that Israeli-sourced peppers, persimmons, and Bamba corn puffs are now proscribed.<\/p>\n

A grocery-store boycott by progressive Brooklynites may seem like local foolishness. But there\u2019s a deeper trend behind the decade-long effort to align the Park Slope Food Co-op to the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement. It offers yet another example of politics that leaves no room for dissent and disagreement.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Park Slope Food Co-op [has always] brought together people that have less in common than usual,\u201d said Ramon Maislen, who has belonged to the co-operative for 15 years. He was drawn to the co-op for its ample selection of organic foods and other tidbits\u2014often priced 15 percent to 20 percent cheaper than elsewhere\u2014and for its community.<\/p>\n

The co-op\u2019s membership has a long history of taking political stands. At its founding in 1973, members voted almost unanimously to ban goods originating from apartheid South Africa and Chile, then under the rule of dictator Augusto Pinochet. Several years after an initial rancorous attempt<\/a>\u00a0to align with the BDS movement in 2009, the co-op established a 75 percent voting threshold for future boycotts in 2016. Joe Holtz, a co-founding member of the co-operative, told City Journal that the compromise was reached to maintain member unity.<\/p>\n

Then came October 7, 2023. In the aftermath of Hamas\u2019s murderous attacks and kidnappings and Israel\u2019s response, a contingent of members united as the \u201cPark Slope Food Co-op for Palestine\u201d (PSFC4Palestine) and revived calls for a boycott of Israeli products. One member summed up their rationale<\/a>: \u201cIsrael has committed a genocide in Gaza. . . . We must do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

PSFC4Palestine\u2019s strategy involved gradually electing supportive members to the six-member board by mobilizing roughly 800 of the most active members\u2014enough to swing votes. Among those elected were Keyian Vafai, who previously worked<\/a>\u00a0as a field organizer for New York Democratic Socialist of America Assemblywoman Julia Salazar; and Tess Brown-Lavoie, who successfully secured board seats in 2024 after mobilizing supporters.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the most explicitly pro-BDS candidates failed to secure seats after Holtz, then the co-op\u2019s general manager, warned against excessive politicization. But Brandon West, a labor organizer and DSA member who told<\/a>\u00a0NPR he was strongly supportive of the boycott, filled a vacant seat.<\/p>\n

A majority on the co-op\u2019s board and agenda-setting committee paved the way for last Tuesday\u2019s vote<\/a>: first, 61 percent of members voted in favor of removing the supermajority requirement for boycotts; then 67 percent voted to boycott Israeli products.<\/p>\n

Following the vote, things moved quickly. According to Maislen, who ran unsuccessfully for the co-op\u2019s board in 2024, boycott supporters \u201cforced staff to remove [affected goods] immediately.\u201d These were quickly donated to a nearby food pantry.<\/p>\n

Barbara Mazor, who opposed the boycott movement alongside Maislen, told City Journal that the vote was \u201ca lost opportunity to build a politics of co-existence.\u201d The purpose of a co-operative, she said, is to \u201cput your difference aside\u201d to work on something collaboratively. Many members stressed that their ability to do so, even when they did not agree on everything, contributed to the Brooklyn neighborhood\u2019s unique social fabric.<\/p>\n

Shoppers at the Park Slope Food Co-op may soon feel the boycott\u2019s effects.\u00a0Of the 80 members who responded to a survey Mazor sent out, sixty percent said that they would resign or reduce their shopping at the co-operative if the BDS motion passed.\u00a0The survey\u2019s\u00a0sample size is admittedly small next to the co-op\u2019s approximately 17,500 members. But if anything like that proportion changes its shopping behavior, it would be a real financial hit.<\/p>\n

The danger of sudden membership losses stems from the organizational structure of a co-operative. A walk down the aisles is sufficient to understand the unique advantages of that structure. A high-trust environment means there is little retail theft. One co-op member on her work shift explained that the co-op is continually making changes to help staff become as productive as possible.<\/p>\n

This structure works as long as a broad consensus exists about the enterprise\u2019s mission. Wading into politics risks dividing the membership\u00a0and leaving large numbers feeling disillusioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Park Slope Food Co-op is not a political organization, it\u2019s a co-operative organization,\u201d co-founder Holtz told City Journal. \u201cWe never had a boycott that only 67 percent agreed with\u2014almost all the rest had [close to] 100 percent agreement.\u201d In overriding the 75 percent threshold without putting the decision to a broader member referendum, the move undermined the first co-operative principle<\/a> of \u201copenness,\u201d which precludes discrimination on grounds of religion, nationality, or political affiliation.<\/p>\n

In evaluating the vote, it is hard to ignore the influence of the wave of anti-Semitism and religious intolerance that has erupted<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0New York City since the October 7 attacks. Though many of the boycott\u2019s leading figures are Jewish themselves\u2014including Alyce Barr, who led the push to divest\u2014Mazor suggested that the move \u201cprovides a lot of validation for people\u201d who dislike Jews more broadly.\u00a0\u201cIt provides encouragement for the most extremist actors, and it\u2019s a permission structure for attacking Jews,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mazor\u2019s suggestion is borne out by members\u2019 reports. Those who opposed the boycott were likened<\/a> to antebellum \u201cpro-slavery\u201d supporters. When a member declared<\/a> \u201cJewish supremacy is a problem,\u201d 50 people applauded, Maislen told City Journal. One Israeli member working a shift who requested anonymity was told by a customer that she smelled \u201cof Palestinian blood\u201d and that \u201cJews are rejoicing in raping and killing Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such ugly incidents align with a broader, citywide trend: monthly anti-Jewish hate incidents in New York City have risen steadily<\/a> over the past few years, including a planned bombing<\/a>\u00a0of a synagogue in Manhattan last month.<\/p>\n

The story of the Park Slope Food Co-op, like that of New York City, is one of collaboration toward shared goals, even when people don\u2019t agree on everything. Whether New Yorkers will continue to be able to set their differences aside remains to be seen.<\/p>\n