A Call for Action by Park Slope Food Coop Committee to Abolish BDS. Tuesday September 27 at 6:30pm

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 A Call For Concrete Action against BDS in Park Slope Food Coop (PSFC).   In Park Slope Food Coop, let's do more than just Talk the Talk about BDS. 

• Acknowledge BDS in the COOP 
• Stop the BDS  
• Take Action to Repair the Damage Done!

The Park Slope Food Coop Committee to Abolish BDS from the Coop is holding a Press Conference in front of St. Francis Xavier School, 763 President Street, between Sixth and Seventh Ave. on September 27th the site of the PSFC general monthly meeting.  

We will protest the BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) agenda infestation in the Park Slope Food Coop over the past 8 years. 

Within our group are four long-time members of the Coop who were suspended for a year because they tried to stop BDS from presenting their hateful propaganda at a previous General Members Meeting. 

While we applaud the efforts of some of the PSFC members to reinstate these members, let it be known that we will not retire from our efforts until we have succeeded to undo the damage not only to these 4 but to the entire Coop membership. We want to make it clear that our goal is to abolish BDS from the Coop permanently and not merely for these members to be reinstated! 

BDS is an anti-Semitic, anti Israel movement whose sole purpose is the destruction of the Sovereign State of Israel.

Our work will be complete when those who engage in BDS will understand that engaging in BDS is counterproductive.  

For every false BDS narrative, we will demand restitution from the COOP.  By this we mean that we demand the Coop undo their years of negative slander and defamation against Israel with positive, pro Israel reeducation,  measure for measure.  

Over the past 8 years the PSFC has engaged in feeding its 17,000 members with a one sided toxic BDS narrative. This was clearly not the original intent of the Coop which was to provide affordable, healthy organic food to local residents of Park Slope, Brooklyn and those living nearby.  

BDS in the Coop is a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing

They impersonate those who value human rights but their agenda is anything but...  BDS has infiltrated and permeated the leadership and decision makers of the PSFC.  This has been manifested in all platforms in the PSFC. 

We applaud Governor Cuomo for his Executive order to reject BDS from New York State.  We applaud the City Council for passing a resolution (law 1058-A) condemning BDS in New York City.  It's an amazing first step.  We are not convinced however if these resolutions can change the situation and undo the BDS propaganda of 8 years in the Coop or help make the necessary changes to prevent BDS propaganda in the future.  We have good reason to fear that as long as the leadership in the Coop are infested with those who support the BDS agenda, BDS will stay in the Coop.

BDS is not simply a matter of harming Israeli companies with economic sanctions.  The truth is that economically BDS attempts have been counterproductive.  Those who love Israel will purposefully buy the product that BDS wishes to boycott.  From a business perspective BDS was the best thing that ever happened to Soda Stream.  Their business grew exponentially. 

 In addition, often the products made in Israel are desirable and it is the consumer that suffers by not purchasing or investing in the product.

So while the economic boycott has not proven to be debilitating, the BDS propaganda is.  Israel and the Jewish people suffer by the  slander and false negative narrative.   It is the BDS narrative that must be abolished since it is hateful and antisemitic and delegitimizes Israel and the Jewish People.  In Nazi Germany, it was a precursor to the Holocaust.  The false narrative turned the Jews into subhuman animals unworthy of any humanity and that paved the way to the mass execution of Jews.   

We are exploring as per how fighting BDS in the Park Slope Food Coop can be helped by the recent Executive Order by Governor Cuomo against BDS and the anti BDS resolution in the City Council.  As of this time, after having reached out to politicians and government offices both in the State and City, we have found that there is no one address, and no followup action yet in place, even when it is clear that an enterprise like Park Slope Food Coop has been engaged in spreading toxic BDS propaganda unchecked. 

The Park Slope Food Coop has succeeded in brainwashing many of its 17,000 members against Israel, and have barely carried Israeli products on their shelves. 

Here is an example of how BDS propaganda influences the minds of the people.  Many clueless members of the Coop take it as fact that Israel is engaged in horrible human rights violations against the Palestinians and of being unlawful Occupiers of Palestinian Land.  They would be aghast to hear that we can prove that Palestine as a political sovereign homeland of a Palestinian people is a Lie. 

Being that at the present, there seems to be a void and there is no assigned government committee or office to turn to with our BDS allegations and complaints, we have devised a plan of action that can be used as a model.  

Allow us to recommend a 4 step practical plan of action and solution to abolish BDS from any enterprise within New York City and New York State including the PSFC.

1. Pursuant to the State Executive Order and City Resolution against BDS, have the State and/or City establish a fair and objective BDS commission where all complaints of BDS can be submitted. A BDSWatch commission.

2. The Commission will thoroughly investigate the complaint

3. If indeed it is found that BDS has infiltrated and infected the enterprise, have the commission submit recommendations to the enterprise as per how they are now required to undo the damage, the lies, the defamation of their BDS activities.

4. Failure of compliance will result in punitive actions against the enterprise

As insiders and members of the PSFC, we have first hand knowledge and have kept tabs and researched and investigated the Park Slope Food Coop BDS Agenda.  We would be happy to share and submit to any BDSWatch commission our findings.

• We know that over the past 8 years with 25 bi monthly publications per year of their Lineswaiters Gazette, BDS has had a voice and a forum. The editors of the Gazette have had a BDS bias. This translates into false lies and propaganda against Israel as well as the suppression of any positive education regarding Israel in around 200 editions of their Gazette over the last 8 years.
• The same goes for their reading group meetings. The organizers have a BDS bias
• They have a BDS  site. Google Park Slope Flood Coop BDS. https://psfcbds.wordpress.com/
• Those members of the PSFC that are responsible to buy goods and produce for the Coop have a BDS bias. It appears to us that there is an unofficial boycott of Israeli products, since they barely carry Israeli products even though there is a clear market for it. They have repeatedly officially tried to boycott Israeli products only to be voted down. 
• Those that decide on the monthly General Meeting Agenda's have a BDS Bias as they repeatedly put boycotts of Israeli products and companies such as Soda Stream on the Agenda.  There is no oversight or discipline on the Agenda Committee when they failed to comply to the wishes of the membership who have rejected BDS and  BDS agenda items.
• The Disciplinary Committee has a BDS bias and disciplined those who are against BDS.

The following would be our recommendations for such an independent BDSWatch Commision.   

• The PSFC would now be required to  to reeducate their membership with equal time of  positive pro Israel content as follows,  measure per measure.
• Reinstate the long-term members that were despicably disciplined and suspended from the Coop for disrupting an unlawful BDS agenda item and require the Coop to pay for damages for pain and suffering and for taking away their Coop job, violations of their human rights and for embarrassment of being singled out as disruptive. These long term members of the Coop were treated heartlessly by the Coop whom they believed were their extended family. 
• BDS members, (those who have proven clear ties to BDS activity) should be singled-out and removed from high level decision making positions in the COOP.  
• The PSFC publication,  Lineswaiter Gazette should publish content, especially for the next 8 years with favorable content towards Israel.  The editors must be vetted to be favorable to Israel.  This is in order to allow the Gazette to counter the lies and falsehoods they spread over the past 8 years. The Gazette must have a fair and objective policy giving equal time for Jews and Israel to respond to any negative anti Semitic propaganda against them. The same holds true for the Reading group.
• Those buyers of the Coop that have selectively refused to buy and sell Israeli products should be replaced with buyers who are favorable to Israel. This goes for those who decide on the General Membership Meeting Agenda and those who are on the Disciplinary Committee.  These are positions of leadership that set policy for the entire Coop.  Those who are chosen for these positions should be vetted to be favorable to Israel.
• The PSFC should create a Park Slope Food Coop Support Israel website to counter/replace the PSFC BDS site.

If the PSFC fails to work with the BDSWatch Commission and comply with these recommendations, the BDSWatch commission would designate the Coop as a BDS enterprise and they would lose its ability to function as a Food Coop.  The commission would advise the public to boycott the Coop and would hit it with fines and regulations until it complied. The worst case scenario would be to take away its license to operate in NYC or New York State designated as a Food Coop,  a Supermarket,  because they have suspended their members out and denied them the ability to buy groceries and work there, based on fundamental differences of  belief regarding the "Occupation" of Palestine clearly unrelated to the food coop agenda.  

The PSFC has taken the liberty to decide that Israel and the Jewish people are violators of human rights and  are Occupiers of Arab Land and this justifies forcing their membership to listen to their propaganda quietly without protest.

This is abhorrent to those who know that BDS is a hate agenda and anti-Semitic.

The facts are that Israel is the true and rightful occupiers of their ancestral homeland who are forced to defend itself against terror attacks from radical Islamic terror.  

The case for Israel does not get a chance in PSFC.  

Of course, our goal is not to shut down the PSFC.  There are many positive aspects to the Coop and we don't want to throw away the baby with the bathwater. However, if the management of such a Coop is being managed by a wolf in sheep clothing, it is better that the enterprise close its door and reopen under a different and new management true to its original goal of being a food coop interested in selling affordable, healthy and organic goods rather than toxic BDS propaganda.

Let the Park Slope Food Coop set the bar to fight BDS wherever it raises its ugly head.  We must fight to defeat the enemy.  We are not looking for short term band aids. We are looking to eradicate BDS since they have the uncanny ability to lie low and then return aggressively given the opportunity. 

for more information http://afsibrooklyn.blogspot.com/2016/09/fwd-please-join-us-for-psfc-park-slope.html

Myths and Facts A guide to the Israel Arab conflict by Mitchell Bard  http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths3/MFexclusives.html#168

We have not received an official response as of yet to our complaints from any New York City or New York State government office but many of the members of the Council and elected officials have been extremely sympathetic.  

Sincerely, 

Park Slope Committee to Abolish BDS from the Coop