Members of the Park Slope Food Coop voted Thursday night to approve a boycott of Israeli goods, marking a major decision for one of the country’s oldest and largest member-owned grocery cooperatives. The measure passed with 4,551 votes in favor and 2,083 opposed after years of organizing and debate inside the Brooklyn-based coop.
The vote aligns the coop with the broader Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a Palestinian-led campaign calling for economic pressure on Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. Organizers described the outcome as a victory for participatory democracy and solidarity organizing within cooperative spaces.
The decision also places the Park Slope Food Coop alongside other organizations and institutions that have recently severed ties with Israeli companies or businesses accused by activists of contributing to violence against Palestinians.
“Tonight’s win is proof that cooperative movements are powerful models for exercising solidarity and participatory democracy,” said Coop board candidate Taylor Pate. “I am so proud to be a member of the world’s largest member-labor-required food coop that has decisively voted no to supporting a country that has carried out genocide, occupation and apartheid in Palestine.”
Backers of the boycott pointed to the coop’s long history of political activism, including past boycotts targeting apartheid South Africa, Chile during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, Colorado over gay rights issues and corporations including Coca-Cola and Citibank.
The campaign was organized by Park Slope Food Coop Members for Palestine and backed by more than 30 organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace-New York, the Palestinian Youth Movement-NYC and the Olympia Food Co-op in Washington state, which became the first grocery store in the United States to boycott Israeli products.
The vote followed more than 17 years of advocacy efforts that organizers said were often met with procedural disputes, protests and intimidation. Past tensions surrounding the issue included disruptions at meetings and reported threats aimed at organizers and event venues. Coop leadership ultimately moved the vote online following safety concerns that included threats and reports of a suspicious substance being mailed to leaders.
Supporters of the measure said they hope the outcome will encourage other cooperatives and community institutions in Brooklyn and beyond to take similar action, continuing a long tradition of grocery stores serving as centers for political and social activism.
