Samantha Bee over at The Daily Show investigates the proposed boycott of Israeli goods at the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn. She interviewed BDS activist Liz Roberts and on the other side, Barbara Mazor of More Hummus Please. See, one of the products that would have been affected by the ban is Sabra Hummus. In the US, Sabra is made in a factory in New Jersey, but it is partly owned by the Strauss Group in Israel. I personally boycott Sabra because any factory made hummus is gross, frankly. But I digress.
The Park Slope Food Coop has 16,000 members, each of whom have to volunteer to work at the coop at least 3 hours a month. Why do so many people care about what happens at a grocery store in Brooklyn? Well, see, Park Slope used to be a pretty rough area. In the 80s Broadway actors, artists and uhm… Lesbians began moving to Park Slope, attracted by its low rents and proximity to Manhattan, earning it the name “Dyke Slope.” As you well know, artists and homosexuals are the shock troops of gentrification and once modest Park Slope has become a residence of choice for young wealthy families, attracted by its leafy neighborhoods, kid friendly Prospect Park, trendy Farmers Market, Cafes, eateries and… its proximity to Manhattan. In the media capital of New York, Park Slope receives a lot of attention and its residents are seen as trend setters in many realms, despite the fact that on the street, it’s mostly mommies pushing crazy expensive strollers.
The vote at the Coop was a vote by 1600 core members to decide on whether to have a vote of all the membership about whether they should ban the sale of the 5 “Israeli” products, including NJ-made Sabra Hummus, Soda Stream and Roland Brand “Israeli Toasted Pasta Couscous (???). In the end, the proposal to vote on a ban was voted down 1005 – 653, handing the BDS movement yet another highly visible failure. In Brooklyn, 1005 people realized that the BDS movement isn’t about peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but is about the destruction of the State of Israel, as was noted by Norman Finkelstein himself. Whatever. Haters gonna hate…
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Thank you great post.
How fitting that Crazy Eyes is leading this divestment movement. Central casting couldn’t come up with a better deranged looking person.
Sorry Barbara, but Liz Roberts is a tool. A tool of those whose desire to destroy the State of Israel is stronger than their desire to help establish a lasting peace in the Middle East. To that end they will lie and distort and co-opt otherwise well intentioned people, all in the furtherance of their craven agenda. Liz is entitled to her opinion, and she is entitled to take whatever action she sees fit – in fact, I would fight to make sure she was free to do so. Similarly, it’s my opinion that Liz’s BDS activism is not just stupid, but hateful as well. I believe in a free market place of ideas and in Park Slope, Brooklyn – the market place fell on the side of reason, truth and justice. It’s about time BDS activists learn that people aren’t as stupid as they think they are. So yeah, Barbara, I will mock Liz any chance I have.
Barbara, it’s shabbat in Israel, where ck lives, so out of courtesy to your request, I’ll change the tag. I should point out that it’s well earned.
Thank you for the nice write up. The Roland Cous Cous is not sold at the food coop, but was a prop purchased by the Daily Show staff. The Coop sells Osem in bulk.
Please take down the tag about Liz. While she is not my friend, and I disagree with her politics, I don’t think it is appropriate to mock her like that. Instead, I hope that one day the strong feelings for justice will bring her to listen to and evaluate the other side of the story.