Park Slope Food Co-op votes to boycott Israeli products after heated membership meeting * Brooklyn Paper

Park Slope Food Co-op members voted to boycott Israeli products and to change the voting threshold for boycotts. At a May 26 general meeting, members approved restoring simple majority voting of 50%+1 for boycotts, replacing a prior 75% supermajority requirement. After the first motion passed with a 61% majority, members voted on a second proposal calling for boycotts of Israeli products aligned with BDS demands for economic pressure on Israel. Of more than 7,000 members attending via Zoom, 67% supported the boycott. The board ratified the decisions, with four votes in favor, one abstention, and one vote against. Products were removed from shelves and donated to a local food pantry.

"At a General Co-op Meeting on May 26, Co-op members overwhelmingly voted in favor of two proposals, the first of which called for restoring simple majority voting (50%+1) for boycotts. Previously, boycotts at the PSFC required a 75% supermajority. Once the first motion passed with a 61% majority, the Co-op moved to the second, which called for the boycott of Israeli products, echoing the demands of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement , a pro-Palestinian campaign that calls for economic pressure on Israel."

"Of the more than 7,000 Co-op members who attended the Zoom meeting, 67% - 4,551 members in favor to 2,083 opposed - supported the proposal to boycott Israeli products. The PSFC board ratified the decisions with four votes in favor, one abstention and one vote against the boycott. "The fact that it passed with such overwhelming support affirms that this co-op is aligned with social justice and is sending a signal to other food co-operatives around the country to other institutions that a boycott is not just possible but also necessary," Gabriel Young of Park Slope Food Co-op 4 Palestine (PSFC4Palestine) told Brooklyn Paper."

"noting that as of Wednesday morning, most of the products, which included produce, tahini, olive oil, snacks and beauty supplies, had been removed from the Co-op's shelves and donated to CHIPS, a food pantry in Park Slope. The debate over whether to remove Israeli products from the shelves of one of the country's largest food co-operatives has been brewing since 2009, but intensified with the ongoing war in Gaza - launched in the wake of terrorist group Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023."

Read at Brooklyn Paper