Members of Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, New York City, have voted to boycott products from Israel and Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine after a contentious, decade-long debate.
Of the co-op’s 17,000 members, 6,753 cast votes on the issue during a three-hour virtual meeting on 27 May, with 4,551 (67%) in favour, 2,083 (31%) against and 119 (2%) abstaining.
The boycott took effect on May 27, 2026, and products subject to the boycott have been removed from sale.
The move, reported to involve items including tahini, peppers and persimmons, follows months of rival campaigns, with the boycott call led by the group Park Slope Food Coop Members in Solidarity with Palestine (SFC4Palestine), and endorsed by more than two dozen advocacy groups including several Jewish ones.
But members opposed to the boycott have formed their own group, Coop4Unity. Opposition has spilled into the wider community with a sermon earlier this month from Rabbi Rachel Timoner of Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn urging co-op members in her congregation to oppose the move.
“ Why is this petty, annoying fight in our neighborhood grocery store worth so much time and effort? Because it is part of something much larger,” she said. “In the end, it is about antisemitism, a real and rising threat which ultimately carries existential danger both for Jews and for every society in which it takes hold.”
The two Democratic rivals in a primary for Congress, Rep. Dan Goldman and former city comptroller Brad Lander, have also voiced opposition to the boycott.
However, the vote was carried and, In a post on its Instagram page, SFC4Palestine called the vote “a historic victory”, adding: “The win means that one of the oldest and largest member-owned food co-operatives in the United States will now join a growing surge of co-operatives and institutions moving to put pressure on the Israeli state for continued crimes against humanity being perpetrated against Palestinians, echoing the demands of the nonviolent, Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”
Related: UK’s Co-op Group to stop sourcing from 17 countries including Israel and Iran
Alyce Barr, a Jewish co-op member who introduced the ban proposal, says future efforts will involve “work with the members of our co-op to make sure that our co-op is everything we want it to be – welcoming, available to people across economic levels and ethnicities”.
But some longtime members and staff were opposed to the move, saying they were worried it would divide a normally cohesive co-op community.
Tensions mounted ahead of the vote, with an email sent by management to members – reported in several news outlets – noting that debate had turned into “physical altercations” and warning that the co-op has received threats and “suspicious packages”.
Another message condemned members for laughing during a previous meeting when one attendee raised concerns about antisemitism, and criticised both anti-Arab and antisemitic remarks made during a recent general assembly of the co-op.
“The co-op has always been a place for open discussion,” wrote general manager Joe Szladek, “including difficult and strongly held views across deep divides, but that discussion must remain grounded in civil discourse.”
Security measures have been put in place at the co-op, with Szladek’s email listing incidents including “threatening letters, suspicious substances sent through the mail, aggressive phone calls and emails, repeated phone disruptions, hostile social media and online activity directed at staff and members”.
These measures are not being taken in response to any one viewpoint or group of members,” he added.
The boycott may now face legal challenges, with opponents claiming it is discriminatory.
US Jewish news outlet Forward reports that Kenneth Marcus, CEO of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under the Law has said the group “is actively evaluating all available legal claims arising from the discriminatory nature of this boycott and the procedural irregularities that allowed it to pass”.
The centre previously helped negotiate a settlement in 2022 that prevented Ben & Jerry’s from refusing to sell its ice cream in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Coops4Unity said in an email to Forward that they have retained legal counsel and are developing a litigation strategy.
New York City and state Human Rights Law prohibit boycotts that discriminate against someone because of a protected class, such as race or national origin. Groups including the Lawfare Project have argued that provision makes it illegal to engage in boycotts of Israeli goods, which they view as a form of discrimination based on national origin.
