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The Park Slope Food Coop is fighting over another BDS resolution — and this time it may finally pass
Pink chalk outlines an approximately 20-foot-long rectangle on the sidewalk outside the Park Slope Food Coop, demarcating a sort of free speech zone to separate two camps of activists from the business of the organic grocery store within.
Inside the pink line, two opposing groups have taken root in recent weeks, building up to a long-brewing May 26 vote over a proposal to boycott Israeli products that has riven the Brooklyn institution’s roughly 16,000 members.
When the Forward visited last Friday, members of the group, PSFC for Palestine, were handing out fliers and urging members to vote yes. The other group, Coop4Unity, was handing out opposing fliers urging shoppers to “bring back cooperation” and “stop polarization” — that is, to vote against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution.
It is a largely symbolic measure, given that the Coop only carries a handful of items imported from Israel; at least one, Al Arz tahini, was founded by an Israeli Arab in Nazareth. (It was bought in 2022 by the Sugat Group, an Israeli company.) Yet the fight is resonating beyond the coop, spurring a sharp sermon from a progressive rabbi and the larger attention of the boycott-Israel movement.
The pink lines forced the groups close enough together that some members there to shop or work were confused, calling over their shoulders to someone trying to hand them a flier “I’ve already signed on,” before realizing they meant to direct their comment at the other group.
One older member walked up to a man handing out fliers against the boycott wearing a hat emblazoned with the logo for the Maccabi Tel Aviv football club, which features a large Star of David. “I think I disagree with everything you’re doing,” the shopper told the man in the Tel Aviv hat in a serious tone, before realizing that they were in fact on the same side of the issue.
Still others seemed deeply frustrated by the drama’s very existence. “It’s a grocery store!” shouted one woman over her shoulder as she walked in the doors.
It’s not just a grocery store, though. The Coop, long a charmingly eccentric neighborhood institution, has a certain outsized cultural power. It has been spoofed by the likes of Broad City and The Daily Show. And it has become a microcosm of the debates over Israel that are splintering the wider progressive movement.
This is far from the first time the Park Slope Food Coop has been embroiled in exactly this issue; in 2012, when the coop first voted on a BDS motion — which was a vote on whether to even hold a vote on BDS — the line to get in was so long it took almost an hour for everyone to file in. The proposal didn’t pass then, but has come up in various forms regularly since.
Boycotts are par for the course at the Coop. The store, which is open only to members who must work shifts in order to shop, has regular general meetings where members can bring issues up for discussion and voting, whether politics or loudspeaker volume. They have endorsed numerous product boycotts in the past, including from South Africa during apartheid, Chile under Pinochet, U.S.-produced grapes in solidarity with United Farm Workers and Domino sugar in solidarity with striking workers.
But since Oct. 7, the temperature of the debate has risen to a new level of animosity that blew up publicly with remarks by a member during the Coop’s most recent general meeting.
“We can’t keep making the same mistakes between what we did with the Nazis and what we did with other hateful groups,” said the participant, during discussion on the vote. “Jewish supremacism is a problem in this country and we will move forward as a country with or without this Coop.”
People at the meeting applauded.
The remarks stunned and disturbed some Jewish members.
“To hear everyone start clapping was pretty jarring. To hear that in real life — to feel all the horrible antisemitic and anti-Zionist abuse that you get on line in real life,” said Ramon Maislen, who attended the meeting and is part of Coop4Unity. “It’s a hostile environment for Jewish members.”
The Coop’s staff, among the few paid to run the operation amid the thousands of volunteers, say the stakes spill over into the survival of the Coop itself.
“Conflicts much bigger than the Coop are playing out in General Meetings,” wrote Joe Szladek, the Coop’s current general manager, in an email to membership, “putting real strain on our governance and on the Coop as a whole.”
The vote
The Coop has always been a political project for many of its members, and its 53-year history has been punctuated by animated debates over decisions from whether to start selling meat (yes) and beer (yes, but only if it’s warm), to whether to accept credit and debit cards (debit yes, credit no).
The Israel boycott resolution has two prongs: One would require the Coop to boycott Israeli-made products “until Israel complies with international law in its treatment of Palestinians.” It is paired with a measure to lower the voting threshold to pass boycott measures from a 75% supermajority to a simple 50% plus one majority.
This, some Coop members contend, is against the Coop’s fundamental ethos of cooperation and a machination to ensure the boycott passes.
One of the Coop’s co-founders, Joe Holtz, opposes the boycott. Holtz retired in 2024 after 50 years as the store’s general manager, one of its few paid roles, and is now hoping to step back into leadership — he is running for the Coop board because, as he wrote in his election statement, “the historic governance system is frankly not working well anymore.”
Other Coop4Unity members say the fight is about the Coop’s health. If members feel the Coop has become too political, longtime member Barbara Mazor said, they will leave, putting the Coop in danger of losing revenue and not meeting payroll.
“The question isn’t what you do think about BDS and what do you think about Israel-Palestine,” she said. “We’re fiduciaries!”
Others, including Alyce Barr — who joined the Coop at age 23 in 1978, just five years after its founding, and is a member of PSFC for Palestine — believe the opposite is true. Barr pointed out that the supermajority has only been required for boycotts since 2016, and arose as a reaction to previous debates over BDS. And, she said, the near-100% agreement on past boycotts was the result of an in-person voting requirement that meant only a small, motivated group was voting at all, hardly representing the entire membership.
“Saying that all the members agreed and that every other boycott was a supermajority and now all these people who support Palestine are making a new thing — it’s a bubbe meise, a lie.”
Tensions erupt
The Coop fight has spilled over into the larger community. On a recent Shabbat, Rabbi Rachel Timoner, a Coop members who leads Parks Slope’s large Reform synagogue, Congregation Beth Elohim, gave a sermon forcefully exhorting against the BDS resolutions, even as she repeatedly emphasized her own support for Palestinian rights and said some members might support the Coop’s boycott.
She asked attendees at the service to meet her after to discuss how to get out the vote against BDS, saying she will resign if the resolution passes, and predicted that many other Jewish members will too. Timoner was struck by the “Jewish supremacism” comment, comparing it to Nazi rhetoric.
“Why is this petty, annoying fight in our neighborhood grocery store worth so much time and effort?” she said in her sermon. “Because it is part of something much larger. In the end it is about antisemitism. A real and rising threat which ultimately carries existential danger both for Jews and every society in which it takes hold.”
Barr called the rabbi’s remarks “fearmongering.” As for the rhetoric of Jewish supremacy, Barr referred me to a statement on the term put out by Jewish Voice for Peace, which defines the term narrowly as the belief that “Jews are superior to other groups, in this case Palestinians,” and refers to its promulgation by far-right Jewish groups like the Jewish Defense League, founded by Meir Kahane.
As a Jew — one who grew up in the Borscht Belt in a town where a cross was burned on the borders — Barr said she does not see how something being sold, or not sold, at the Coop would make her unsafe. She said that she has felt upset for years at seeing Israeli products on the shelves, yet hasn’t quit over an issue in nearly 50 years of membership.
“We can have a conscience, we can disagree,” Barr said. “One way or another, we can go on and be a Coop.”
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Milei praises ‘Judeo-Christian values’ at Chabad event as Argentina courts European Jews
(JTA) — BUENOS AIRES — Argentine President Javier Milei exalted “Judeo-Christian values” on Monday as he spoke to a crowd of 1,800 people celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the death of the last Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi.
Milei was the keynote speaker at the Hasidic Orthodox movement’s event marking the yahrzeit of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, becoming what appears to be the first sitting non-Jewish head of state to make an official tribute to the Lubavitcher Rebbe at a major Chabad event.
“The conclusion I have reached is simple in its formulation and profound in its consequences: When one embraces Judeo-Christian values, spiritual and material life become aligned and resonate on the same wavelength,” Milei said Monday night at the Palacio Libertad cultural center.
It was the latest in a long list of expressions of admiration for Judaism for Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist” who was elected in 2023 and since has made support for Israel a cornerstone of his agenda. He has previously visited Schneerson’s grave in New York City, made pilgrimages to the Western Wall in Jerusalem and presented a picture of Schneerson to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a gift. He was also honored at a Chabad synagogue in Miami in 2024, where he revealed that he believed he has Jewish heritage.
Milei has long studied Judaism and has said he wants to convert after leaving office but sees Jewish practice, including the observance of Shabbat, as incompatible with the presidency.
His 40-minute speech at the Chabad event focused almost entirely on Jewish religious texts and thought, quoting passages from the Torah as the basis of his economic view.
Milei also revealed that his address was drawn from the epilogue of his upcoming book, “Morality as State Policy,” in which he argues that capitalism is a system invented by “the Creator” — whom he also referred to as “the One” — to bring paradise to earth through work.
Jews in Argentina have a range of perspectives on Milei’s philosemitism.
“I appreciate that the president chose to attend and speak at the Tribute to the Rebbe,” Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt, the head of Chabad in Argentina, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “He is doing so from a deeply personal place. I also think it is healthy for him to have this spiritual side.”
But Alicia Osipovich, a sign-language interpreter assisting a deaf attendee at the event, told JTA that Milei’s forceful support for Israel and Judaism made her uneasy, even as she personally appreciated it.
“I’m proud and deeply moved to have a president like him,” Osipovich said. “At the same time, I have some concerns. He speaks extensively about Israel, and you know how support for Israel is sometimes portrayed. He says he is a Zionist, but nowadays the word ‘Zionist’ is often used as a negative label. I have mixed emotions. As a Jew, I am proud, but I also feel some concern about the increased public exposure of Judaism these days.”
Under Milei’s leadership, Argentina has invited European Jews worried about rising antisemitism to consider the country as a destination. Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno recently emphasized Argentina’s attractiveness in a message aimed at Jews in Britain and other European countries who are grappling with surging incidents targeting Jewish communities.
“A country on the up with great opportunities. Sunny, with many natural attributes, and home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America. Strong stand against antisemitism. British and European Jews should seriously consider Argentina. You are welcome,” Quirno wrote on X in reply to author Saul Sadka, who had urged British Jews to consider leaving amid growing hostility.
Argentina’s leading Jewish organization, DAIA, has recorded more antisemitic incidents in recent years, mostly taking place online. But the rate of antisemitic incidents reported in the country last year was significantly lower than in many other countries with sizable Jewish populations, according to the 2025 worldwide antisemitism report published in April by Tel Aviv University.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s global director, praised Quirno’s invitation, saying it reflected a significant shift.
“Sign of the times? A country formerly ruled by a Nazi-supporting dictator has morphed over decades into a strong democracy whose president is a philo-Semite,” Cooper wrote in reply to Milei’s foreign minister. “Argentina currently serves as chair of IHRA [the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance]. Foreign minister now beckons embattled British Jews. Incredible.”
Israel’s ambassador to Argentina Eyal Sela told JTA at the Chabad event that he had no difficulty recognizing that Argentina is currently a very good place for Jewish life.
“Yes, I agree with the Argentine foreign minister,” Sela told JTA. “Of course, Israel will always be the best place for Jewish life. But today, Argentina is a much better place for Jews than Europe.”
Monday’s event opened with the testimony of Yosef Chaim Ohana, a survivor of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, who expressed deep gratitude for the support shown by Jews around the world, followed by remarks from his father, Avi Ohana. Milei hosted the Ohanas and Grunblatt on Tuesday morning at Argentina’s presidential palace, the Casa Rosada.
Dozens of Argentine nationals were murdered or taken hostage on Oct. 7. This week, an Israeli who had worked in Buenos Aires at the Israeli embassy in Argentina was killed in an attack on a moshav in central Israel.
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France bans Smotrich as 6 countries impose new sanctions over Israeli settler violence
(JTA) — Six countries have imposed coordinated sanctions against Israeli groups over settler violence in the West Bank, with France barring Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, from its borders.
France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway and Australia on Tuesday released sweeping sanctions on Israeli networks and leaders to “hold extremist settlers accountable for the horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians,” their foreign ministers said in a joint statement.
The measures include a range of travel bans and asset freezes aimed at disrupting flows of finance to extremist settler groups as violence escalates in the West Bank. The United Nations reported over 1,800 settler attacks against Palestinians in 2025, the highest number since it began documenting incidents in 2006, and violence has remained intense this year. The Israeli military also recorded a sharp increase in nationalist and settler violence in 2025.
Israel said it rejected “the disgraceful measures adopted by foreign governments against Israeli citizens, entities, and a government minister,” accusing the other countries of imposing a political stance that was “camouflaged as measures against violence.”
“What these governments have in common is their resounding failure to combat the antisemitism that is rampant in their own countries,” said Israel’s Foreign Ministry. “Anti-Israeli policies of the kind adopted today only serve to fuel that antisemitism.”
New Zealand imposed travel bans last week on three Israelis: Itamar Yehuda Levi, Harel David Libi and Eliav Libi. Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the bans were not aimed at the Israeli government or people, but targeted “three individuals who have actively worked to expand illegal settlements in the West Bank, including through violence.” Levi and his construction company, Eyal Hari Yehuda, were also listed as targets of new sanctions from the United Kingdom. Levi, Harel David Libi and Eliav Libi could not be reached for comment.
France on Tuesday joined a growing list of countries to ban Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister who oversees demolition and construction in a portion of the West Bank. The ban comes days after Smotrich visited the United States to march in a pro-Israel parade in New York City, surprising many local Jewish leaders who said they do not support him.
Smotrich has already been barred from entering Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Slovenia. Smotrich did not respond to a request for comment.
Those countries have also previously banned Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister. France banned Ben-Gvir last month after he posted a video of himself taunting detained activists who attempted to carry aid to Gaza on a flotilla.
France added four leaders of settler organizations and 21 settlers accused of violence to its travel ban list on Tuesday, according to foreign affairs minister Jean-Noël Barrot.
The United Kingdom, for the first time, has explicitly advised businesses against economic and financial activity in the West Bank. The country released a list of seven sanctioned people and entities that financially support Israeli settler farms and outposts in the West Bank or are associated with physical attacks on Palestinians.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper also announced at least £10 million for the Palestinian Authority, which runs Palestinian areas of the West Bank, and £1 million for humanitarian assistance with clearing mines in Gaza.
Canada announced that its measures on Tuesday brought the country to a total of 19 individuals and 12 entities sanctioned for “their role in extremist settler violence.”
The joint statement issued by five foreign ministers said that illegal settlements, which shrink the territory inhabited by Palestinians, undermine “viability of the State of Palestine and the prospects for peaceful coexistence.” Norway officially recognized a Palestinian state in May 2024, with France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia following suit in September 2025. New Zealand has not recognized a Palestinian state.
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro sparks outcry over tweet reading ‘Heil Hitler’
(JTA) — Colombia’s outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, sparked fierce condemnation from Israeli and Latin American leaders after he tweeted the phrase “Heil Hitler” Sunday in response to an op-ed endorsing a candidate in the country’s upcoming presidential election.
Petro, a left-wing president in the final weeks of his term ahead of the country’s June 21 runoff election, posted the Nazi phrase in response to an op-ed supporting right-wing presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella.
Petro subsequently defended his use of the Nazi slogan, arguing that he was critiquing the language used by the op-ed’s author, which he said included “fascist phrases.”
His defense came after criticism from Israeli leaders and others who said the “Heil Hitler” comment was inappropriate.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, called on the Colombian leader to “come to your senses and apologize” before Wednesday, when he is slated to preside over a debate at the United Nations Security Council.
“President of Colombia, @petrogustavo, whatever is going on in your personal life, there are lines that must never be crossed,” Danon wrote in a post on X. “Using Nazi slogans is a disgraceful low from which there is no coming back.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry also decried the post, writing on X that it was a “total loss of moral compass and an indelible stain on Colombia’s legacy.”
The episode comes amid shifting norms about the use of Holocaust analogies and language in political discourse. After being considered out of bounds for a long time, people on both the right and the left have increasingly shed those norms amid growing political polarization and extremism around the world.
The “Heil Hitler” post was not the first time Petro has landed in hot water for invoking the Holocaust. In the wake of Oct. 7, Petro drew backlash from Jewish and Israeli leaders for likening the actions of Israel to Nazi Germany. On social media, he has repeatedly called political rivals Nazis, including last month when he wrote in a post on X that Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, had behaved like a “true Nazi” after he posted videos taunting detained activists from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
In 2024, Petro also severed diplomatic ties with Israel, accusing the country of commiting genocide in Gaza, an accusation Israel has denied. Espriella, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, has vowed to renew diplomatic ties with Israel.
On Monday, 24 Latin American lawmakers signed onto a statement condemning Petro’s rhetoric, warning that his repeated use of references to Naziism risked distorting Holocaust memory.
“The use of references to Nazism must not become a rhetorical tool to discredit political or ideological positions. Democratic leaders have a responsibility to promote a respectful public debate that is conscious of the weight of words,” the statement read.
The statement was initiated by the Coalition of Latin American Legislators Against Antisemitism, which is led by the Combat Antisemitism Movement. The signatories included lawmakers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
Shay Salamon, CAM’s executive director of Latin American affairs, said in a statement that Petro’s invocation of the phrase reflected a “troubling record of antisemitic expressions and conduct” by the Colombian leader.
“When a leader uses the authority of his office to stigmatize the Jewish people or trivialize their historic suffering, silence is no longer an option,” Salamon said.
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