Park Slope Food Co-op Jewish members face anti-Israel, anti-Semitic hatred

It’s an awesome food fight.

The Park Slope Food Co-op has developed into a hotbed of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel hatred, with members chanting Nazi slogans toward Jews and mocking them for “the smell of Palestinian blood,” according to a complaint filed with the state. Are.

Real estate developer Ramon Maslen, 43, said he filed a complaint with the state Human Rights Division on October 7 after he and other Jewish members. socialist leaning Grocery co-ops on Union Street were harassed for protesting a campaign to boycott Israeli products.

Crunchie Co-op, founded in 1973, needs approximately 16,000 members In addition to voting on store policies, they would be required to work 2.75-hour shifts every six weeks in exchange for the privilege of purchasing deeply discounted groceries.

However, in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack and the upcoming war in Gaza, many members began pushing to remove products associated with the Jewish state, such as Sabra hummus, from store shelves, and spicy melee soon followed. Spread in campaigns. For the election of the board of directors of the cooperative society earlier this year.

According to Maslen’s complaint, in May, a Jewish co-op member who was standing outside a store trying to inform people strolling by about the attempted boycott was confronted by a shopkeeper who called him a “Nazi.” Said.

According to the complaint, the hateful member started walking away, but not before yelling “Sieg Heil” at the 35-year-old man.

“I’ve had anti-Semitic comments made to me, but to see it so publicly, with that brazenness, with that language… I was really shaken,” the woman told The Post.

The woman, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, said that after she complained to the co-operative society’s “dispute resolution committee” her attacker had issued a half-hearted apology, after which she has yet to shop or work at the store. Has not returned to do.

“Co-ops are no longer a welcoming place for Israelis, for Jews,” he said.

The anti-Israel hostility continued a week later, when Maslen, who had run unsuccessfully for a seat on the board of directors on an anti-boycott platform, was harassed outside the co-op by an unruly member who barked at him. Zionists “cannot” sympathize,” the complaint said.

And in late June, an Israeli-Jewish cooperative member who was discussing pro-boycott candidates during her shift was harassed by another woman espousing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including that Jews had celebrated the rape and murder of young Palestinians, according to the complaint.

The complaint said the member was upset that she could not work or stand next to a Jewish woman because she smelled “Palestinian blood.”

Despite reporting their traumatic encounters to the Dispute Resolution Committee, neither Maslen nor his fellow member have been told the results of the investigation.

The pro-boycott campaign, known as Park Slope Food Co-op Members for Palestine, wrote in an open letter that they want to ensure that their organization “is not supporting the apartheid government and genocide. “Isn’t doing it.”

Maslen said, “Our goal has always been to simply have dialogue so that other members can understand why their actions may be harmful to us.”

Spokespeople for the state human rights division and the boycott campaign declined to comment. The co-op did not respond to requests for comment.