Rep. Ritchie Torres demands probe of Park Slope Food Co-op
Rep. Ritchie Torres fired off letters Friday to NYC Mayor Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul and other city and state honchos demanding the state Division of Human Rights and NYC Commission on Human Rights probe allegations of 'an insidious pattern of harassment, intimidation, and discrimination' against Jews — or anyone who is pro-Israel at the crunchy Brooklyn co-op.
'Anti-discrimination laws must be rigorously and impartially enforced — without exception,' the Bronx Democrat wrote Friday.
Advertisement
3 Rep. Ritchie Torres called on both the city and the state to probe the well-known Park Slope Food Co-Op for discrimination.
Matthew McDermott
The socialist-leaning Union Street institution has long been locked in a holy war over Middle East politics, highlighted by members in 2012 voting down joining an international boycott of Israel products during a contentious meeting that became ripe for mockery by Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.'
But in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, members who support the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement have seized control of the co-op's governance, according to Torres and members sympathetic to Israel.
Advertisement
'The cumulative effect is the creation of a hostile environment for Jews, particularly those who affirm a connection to the Jewish homeland,' wrote Torres, who is mulling a run a run for governor.
Zara Watkins, a co-op member who opposes the BDS movement, said she was menaced and cursed at last Halloween for wearing a costume paying tribute to the Israeli-made product Sabra hummus.
One man 'seething with rage' repeatedly circled her while 'muttering' under his breath, and another dropped an F-bomb and gave her the finger over her costume, she recalled.
3 Zara Watkins, a co-op member, paid tribute to Israel with a Sabra Hummus costume – but faced backlash from other members.
Obtained by the NY Post
Advertisement
'It really shook me up,' said the lawyer, adding her complaints to the co-op's 'dispute resolution committee' were blown off.
Jewish co-op member Ramon Maislen said he tried to thwart efforts by a pro-boycott campaign, known as the Park Slope Food Co-op Members for Palestine, to take over the PSFC's leadership last year by running for a seat on the co-op's board of directors.
Maislen, 43, said he not only lost to the pro-BDS faction, but was verbally abused by Israel-hating members on many occasions despite trying to broker a peaceful solution.
He and other members said they fear it's only a matter of time before the new leadership institutes a boycott on Israel products, without having members vote on it.
Advertisement
'We feel let down by the co-op's leadership, which has done nothing to fester out the hatred that has been simmering,' said Maislen, who heads a political action committee called 'Brooklyn BridgeBuilders' that has raised more than $56,000 to help defeat anti-Israel Park Slope Councilwoman Shahana Hanif in the June 24 Democratic primary.
3 The Park Slope Food Co-op has more than 16,000 members.
J.C. Rice
The real estate developer filed his own complaint with the state Human Rights Division in October over alleged harassment against members opposing the campaign to boycott Israeli products.
The harassment allegedly included pro-BDS members spewing Nazi slogans at Jews and sneering they 'smell of Palestinian blood.'
The complaint is still pending.
Reps for Park Slope Food Co-op Members for Palestine could not be reached for comment, but they wrote in an open letter that they back a boycott on Israel-made products to ensure the co-op is 'not supporting an apartheid government and unfolding genocide.'
Joe Holtz, co-founder of the food co-op, said the PSFC 'is against discrimination of any kind' and declined further comment.
Advertisement
The co-op, founded in 1973, requires its 16,000-plus members to work 2.75-hour shifts every six weeks, in exchange for the privilege of purchasing heavily discounted groceries and voting on store policies.
The city intends to review 'the troubling events at the co-op' and will respond to Torres 'with more information,' said mayoral spokeswoman Sophia Askari.
'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,' said Askari.
'This is on full display in incidents at the Park Slope Food Co-op — where Jewish people are being harassed simply for being Jewish.'
Hochul spokesperson Matthew Janiszewski said the governor has a long history of taking 'aggressive action to fight antisemitism in New York,' but he added the office cannot comment on pending investigations before the Division of Human Rights.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
a few seconds ago
- Chicago Tribune
Texas House Democrats join Chicago anti-Trump protest in Loop
Hundreds of protesters gathered at Millennium Park Saturday afternoon to rally against redistricting efforts in Texas that could give Republicans five additional U.S. House seats in next year's midterm elections. They were joined by more than a dozen Texas House Democrats who have stayed in Illinois since Aug. 3 to block the gerrymandering. The legislators urged their supporters across the country to continue opposing the Texas Republicans' efforts. 'Our plan was to wake up the nation,' Texas State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, D-San Antonio, told the crowd. 'Our plan is to fight in the courts. We hope they're fair this time. Our plan is to make sure our messaging gets to you.' The Texas Democrats intend to return to the Lone Star State Monday, according to a Texas House Democrats spokesperson and Texas State Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston. Saturday's protesters directed much of their frustration at President Donald Trump, who has supported Texas Republicans' proposed map. The rally was one of more than 200 similar protests planned across the country, and follows other coordinated anti-Trump events like the No Kings protest in June and Good Trouble Lives On protest in July. 'I think Trump is genuinely eroding away at our basic democratic freedoms, crippling the legal system, attempting to violate separation of powers,' said Sophia Liu, a student at the University of Chicago who attended the protest Saturday. Protesters heard from members of the Texas delegation and local leaders, including U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez and Chicago Federation of Labor secretary and treasurer Don Villar. Then, they marched down Michigan Avenue and Adams Street to Federal Plaza, chanting 'Whose house? Our house' and 'immigrants are here to stay.' Democrats around the country have attacked the Texas gerrymandering plan for its timing, saying redistricting shouldn't happen in the middle of the decade. As the Texas controversy moved further into the national spotlight, several other states have considered upping their own partisan gerrymandering efforts. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, proposed a ballot initiative Thursday to give Democrats five more U.S. House seats, the AP reported. Gov. J.B. Pritzker said earlier this month that though he doesn't want to, he hasn't taken redistricting off the table. Other Republican-controlled states, including Missouri, are also considering, or at least not opposed to, mid-decade partisan redistricting as well. Some protesters were uneasy at the prospect of back-and-forth partisan redistricting. Luke Hopkins, a current graduate student and former U.S. Marine who lives in North Center, said he thinks Texas' redistricting efforts 'are a clear abuse of power' and 'not what democracy is about.' Still, California's response was somewhat 'troubling,' he said shortly after writing 'veterans against Trump' in blue chalk at Federal Plaza. 'You have to fight fire with fire sometimes,' he said. 'I don't think either is very good for democracy overall.' But for Liu, California's pushback is necessary to make sure there's still meaningful opposition to Trump after the midterm elections. 'I can imagine, if another thing like the 'Big Beautiful Bill part two' came out,' it would harm millions of Americans,' she said, referencing the Republican-led federal legislation that heavily cut social services while increasing funding for immigration enforcement. 'And I think that's a greater harm than gerrymandering in the moment.' In the long term, Liu said she would support efforts to end all partisan gerrymandering. But Texas House Democrat leader, State Rep. Gene Wu, said the escalations between Texas, California and other states aren't simply a tit-for-tat political battle. Instead, he said, there was a clear 'attacking' and 'defending' force — comparing the situation to 'Russia invading Ukraine.' 'What California is proposing would only happen if Texas chose to do the wrong thing,' Wu said. With California and other Democratic states' gerrymandering threats in place, Wu said he and his colleagues have a safety net to return to the state, where they are likely to lose the redistricting fight in the Republican-controlled Texas legislature. They look to legally challenge the Republican-drawn maps next, Wu said. 'Our chances in court I think are good,' he said. 'I know we don't trust the courts, but I think this is something that is so racist, so unconstitutional, that the courts cannot look away.'
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel prepares to move Palestinians to southern Gaza as Israelis urge mass protest over war
Israel Palestinians NAHARIYA, Israel (AP) — Israel announced Saturday that it is preparing to move Palestinians from combat zones to southern Gaza as plans move ahead for a military offensive in some of the territory's most populated areas. The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, said the supply of tents to the territory would resume on Sunday. The military said it had no comment on when the mass movement of Palestinians would begin, but Defense Minister Israel Katz said on social media that 'we are now in the stage of discussions to finalize the plan to defeat Hamas in Gaza." Meanwhile, anxious families of Israeli hostages called for a 'nationwide day of stoppage' in Israel on Sunday to express growing frustration over 22 months of war. Families of hostages fear the coming offensive further endangers the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, just 20 of them thought to still be alive. They and other Israelis were horrified by the recent release of videos showing emaciated hostages speaking under duress and pleading for help and food. The families and supporters have pressed the government for a deal to stop the war — a call that some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs have made as well in recent weeks. A group representing the families has urged Israelis into the streets on Sunday. 'Across the country, hundreds of citizen-led initiatives will pause daily life and join the most just and moral struggle: the struggle to bring all 50 hostages home,' it said in a statement. 'I want to believe that there is hope, and it will not come from above, it will come only from us,' said Dana Silberman Sitton, sister of Shiri Bibas and aunt of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, who were killed in captivity. She spoke at a weekly rally in Tel Aviv, along with Pushpa Joshi, sister of kidnapped Nepalese hostage Bipin Joshi, a student seized from a kibbutz. 'I miss my best friend,' Pushpa said. Airstrike kills a baby girl and her parents An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed a baby girl and her parents on Saturday, Nasser hospital officials and witnesses said. Motasem al-Batta, his wife and the girl were killed in their tent in the crowded Muwasi area. 'Two and a half months, what has she done?" neighbor Fathi Shubeir asked, sweating as temperatures in the shattered territory soared above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). 'They are civilians in an area designated safe.' Israel's military said it couldn't comment on the strike without more details. It said it is dismantling Hamas' military capabilities and takes precautions not to harm civilians. Muwasi is one of the heavily populated areas in Gaza where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel plans to widen the coming military offensive, along with Gaza City and 'central camps' — an apparent reference to the built-up Nuseirat and Bureij camps in central Gaza. Israel may be using the threat to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages taken in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Elsewhere, an official at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in the Zikim area of northern Gaza, as well as four people killed in shelling. 11 more deaths related to malnutrition Another 11 malnutrition-related deaths occurred in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the territory's Health Ministry said Saturday, with one child among them. That brings malnutrition-related deaths during the war to 251. The United Nations is warning that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began. Palestinians are drinking contaminated water as diseases spread, while some Israeli leaders continue to talk openly about the mass relocation of people from Gaza. A 20-year old Palestinian woman described as being in a 'state of severe physical deterioration' died Friday after being transferred from Gaza to Italy for treatment, the hospital said Saturday. The U.N. and partners say getting food and other aid into the territory of over 2 million people, and then on to distribution points, remains highly challenging with Israeli restrictions and pressure from crowds of hungry Palestinians. The U.N. human rights office says at least 1,760 people were killed while seeking aid between May 27 and Wednesday. It says 766 were killed along routes of supply convoys and 994 in the vicinity of 'non-U.N. militarized sites," a reference to the Israeli-backed and U.S.-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which since May has been the primary distributor of aid in Gaza. The Hamas-led attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 61,897 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own. ___ Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Israel prepares to move Palestinians to southern Gaza ahead of offensive
Israel announced on Saturday that it is preparing to move Palestinians from combat zones to southern Gaza as plans move ahead for a military offensive in some of the territory's most populated areas. The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, Cogat, said the supply of tents and other shelter equipment to the territory would resume on Sunday ahead of the mass movement of Palestinians to the south. The military said it had no comment on when that movement would begin. Meanwhile, anxious families of Israeli hostages called for a 'nationwide day of stoppage' in Israel on Sunday to express growing frustration over 22 months of war. Families of hostages fear the coming offensive further endangers the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, just 20 of them thought to still be alive. The families and supporters have pressed the government for a deal to stop the war – a call that some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs have also made in recent weeks. 'I want to believe that there is hope, and it will not come from above, it will come only from us,' said Dana Silberman Sitton, sister of Shiri Bibas and aunt of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, who were killed in captivity. She spoke at a weekly rally in Tel Aviv.
