Park Slope Coop BDS vote to take place virtually due to security concerns

A divisive vote aimed at boycotting Israeli products at the Park Slope Food Coop in New York City will take place tonight via Zoom due to security concerns and crowding.

The coop is a major institution in the Brooklyn neighborhood known for its progressive politics and has around 17,000 members.

The yearslong dispute over the boycott has become a focal point in anti-Israel politics in the US city, drawing in Congress members, leading Jewish groups, anti-Zionist activists and local rabbis.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin tells The Times of Israel that “this proposed boycott serves to further divide New Yorkers.”

“I hope the Coop rejects BDS and instead remains focused on the mission that has guided it for more than 50 years,” Menin says.

Coordinators at the coop told members last week that tonight’s general meeting will take place via Zoom due to security concerns and the expected large turnout.

“Staff, presenters, Chair committee and other members have all raised explicit concerns about their safety, attending the meeting in-person,” the coordinators said in an email obtained by The Times of Israel.

In an internal email to members last week, the coop’s management said that disagreements over the vote had “escalated into verbal confrontations and, in some cases, physical altercations” between members.

The coop has also received threats that “required coordination with the NYPD,” the email said.

Starting today, the coop is hiring security personnel and instituting a “check-in station” for parts of the building, the email said, while asking for members to “approach one another with the cooperative spirit that has sustained this community for decades.”

The vote aims to bar the sale of goods produced in Israel proper and in settlements, alleging genocide, apartheid and international law violations. Among the campaigners’ demands was the “right of return” for the descendants of all Palestinians displaced in the 1948 war, which would effectively end Israel’s existence as a Jewish-majority state.

Jewish members who oppose the boycott have reported harassment and antisemitism.

The organizers said the boycott would apply to eight products, such as three tahini brands and Osem Bamba, plus “Israeli produce.”