Rep. Ritchie Torres demands investigation of socialist-leaning Park Slope Food Co-op over alleged anti-Israel hate
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.
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.
'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 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.
'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.
'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.
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.
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.
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