Park Slope Food Coop members approved a boycott of Israeli goods Tuesday night — following a years-long food fight that has turned vicious.
Over 7000 of the co-op’s 15,000 members attended the meeting — which had to be shifted to Zoom only after Jewish attendees cited “explicit fears” for their safety if they attended in person.
The huge turnout, which many said was the largest in the co-op’s 53 year history, comes after months of heated debate at the Brooklyn institution that has spilled out on the lefty enclave’s streets.
The boycott passed by a vote of 67 percent in favor to 31 percent against, with 2 percent abstaining.
The debate over whether the co-op should join the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) movement over a handful of Israeli groceries led to an antisemitic outburst at a meeting last month, as well as accusations the Jewish members were supporting genocide.
The co-op’s last Israel boycott vote, in 2012, drew only 2,000 attendees. Usual meetings can range from 50 to 200 members, according to Ramon Maislen, a longtime co-op member.
“The coop used to feel like Brooklyn’s living room; now every meeting feels like judgment day at noon,” Maislen said.
“Whatever our politics, we should be able to disagree without condemning one another.”
Tuesday’s meeting’s agenda included routine business-like elections to the Revolving Loan Committee and the Pension Education Committee.
But the main event was a pair of votes over voting thresholds for boycotts, and whether to remove Israeli hummus, matzo, and other goods from shelves.
While all members can vote, the co-op board votes at the end, and their vote is decisive, Maislen says.
“They’re supposed to be influenced by membership votes, but they are technically not required to be.”
The first vote of the night was a procedural maneuver to lower the threshold for boycotting products from 75% to a simple majority.
61% of members voted to restore the simple majority rule, 38% voted no, and 1% abstained. The change took effect immediately, impacting the following boycott vote.
The second was the vote on the actual ban, which passed with 67% voting yes, 31% voting no, and 2% abstaining.
Had the supermajority requirement held, the boycott would not have passed.
Ahead of the meeting, co-op general coordinators Ann Herpel and Matt Hoagland urged members to maintain a respectful, cooperative tone when speaking, acknowledging the “highly contested and intense interest” the BDS vote has sparked among members.
“Members may hold deeply different views on these issues but personal attacks, inflammatory language, or any comments directed at anyone’s identity such as religion, ethnicity, or national origin are unacceptable,” the email read. “Recording the meeting is prohibited.”
Regardless of the outcome, some members feel the controversial spectacle divided members when it should have been an opportunity to unite them.
“Here we are getting all this publicity, and we could be using it to amplify the voices working for co-existence and a shared future,” said member Barbara Mazor.
“But instead we are just rehashing the same stuff that doesn’t help anybody.”