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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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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.