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Ritchie Torres Urges Investigation Into Popular New York City Food Co-Op Over Alleged Antisemitism
US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks during the House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 2021. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS
US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) has sent a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, along with other top state and city officials, demanding an investigation into an alleged spate of antisemitic incidents occurring at the Park Slope Food Co-Op in Brooklyn.
According to the letter, Jewish and Israeli members of the community have experienced “verbal harassment, including antisemitic slurs and threatening behavior” by employees of the co-op in the 19 months following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. Torres also wrote that members of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — an initiative which aims to economically isolate Israel as a step toward its eventual destruction — have attempted to “capture the co-op’s governance structure and advance an ideological agenda of anti-Zionist exclusion.”
Co-op employees reportedly told a Jewish community member that they “smelled like Palestinian children’s blood,” in one incident outlined by Torres. Another non-Jewish community member was “verbally berated and intimidated” for wearing a “culturally Israeli food costume.”
Moreover, community members allege that the co-op’s Dispute Resolution Committee and Agenda Committee has been overtaken by supporters of the anti-Israel BDS movement. These committee members “selectively enforce” rules in a way which unfairly targets Jewish and Israeli individuals, according to Torres.
“The cumulative effect is the creation of a hostile environment for Jews, particularly those who affirm a connection to the Jewish homeland,” the letter states.
Torres has requested that top state and city officials approve a “thorough investigation by both the New York State Division of Human Rights and the New York City Commission on Human Rights” to uncover the alleged antisemitic conduct at the Park Slope Food Co-op.
“Discriminatory movements like BDS will find no refuge in the State or City of New York. Jewish New Yorkers are no exception to the rule against discrimination and no less entitled to dignity, safety, and equality in our civic life,” the letter reads.
Joe Holtz, co-founder of the food co-op, told the New York Post that the organization “is against discrimination of any kind” and declined further comment.
A spokesperson for Adams said New York City intends to review “the troubling events at the co-op” and will respond to Torres.
“Mayor Adams has been clear that far too often we see antisemitic propaganda masquerading as activism, and it has led to an unacceptable rise in antisemitism throughout our city and country,” mayoral spokeswoman Sophia Askari told the Post. “This is on full display in incidents at the Park Slope Food Co-op — where Jewish people are being harassed simply for being Jewish.”
New York City specifically has been ravaged by a surge in antisemitic incidents in the 19 months following the Oct. 7 onslaught, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. According to police data, Jews were targeted in the majority of hate crimes perpetrated in the city last year. Pro-Hamas activists have held raucous — and sometimes violent — protests on the city’s college campuses, oftentimes causing Jewish students to fear for their safety.
The post Ritchie Torres Urges Investigation Into Popular New York City Food Co-Op Over Alleged Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Readies for a Nationwide Strike on Sunday
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are calling on for a general strike to be held on Sunday in an effort to compel the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal with Hamas for the release of their loved ones and a ceasefire. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
The October 7 Council and other groups representing bereaved families of hostages and soldiers who fell since the start of the war declared they were “shutting down the country to save the soldiers and the hostages.”
While many businesses said they would join the strike, Israel’s largest labor federation, the Histadrut, has declined to participate.
Some of the country’s top educational institutions, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, declared their support for the strike.
“We, the members of the university’s leadership, deans, and department heads, hereby announce that on Sunday, each and every one of us will participate in a personal strike as a profound expression of solidarity with the hostage families,” the Hebrew University’s deal wrote to students.
The day will begin at 6:29 AM, to commemorate the start of the October 7 attack, with the first installation at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Further demonstrations are planned at dozens of traffic intersections.
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Netanyahu ‘Has Become a Problem,’Says Danish PM as She Calls for Russia-Style Sanctions Against Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said Saturday, adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war.
“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen told Danish media, adding that the Israeli government is going “too far” and lashing out at the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and announced new homes in the West Bank.
“We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said, specifying she referred to “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole.”
“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect.”
The devastating war in Gaza began almost two years ago, with an incursion into Israel of thousands of Palestinian armed jihadists, who perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
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As Alaska Summit Ends With No Apparent Progress, Zelensky to Meet Trump on Monday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – After US President Donald Trump hailed the “great progress” made during a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was set to meet Trump on Monday at the White House.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump told reporters during a joint press conference after the meeting.
Many observers noted, however, that the subsequent press conference was a relatively muted affair compared to the pomp and circumstance of the red carpet welcome, and the summit produced no tangible progress.
Trump and Putin spoke briefly, with neither taking questions, and offered general statements about an “understanding” and “progress.”
Putin, who spoke first, agreed with Trump’s long-repeated assertion that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Trump been president instead of Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump said “many points were agreed to” and that “just a very few” issues were left to resolve, offering no specifics and making no reference to the ceasefire he’s been seeking.