Park Slope Food Coop Suspends 4 Who Interrupted Israel Divestment Group's Presentation: Report

Pictured: the Park Slope Food Co-Op. Image via Google Maps.

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN, NY — A long-running battle over whether the Park Slope Food Coop should sell Israeli-made products has left four members suspended until 2017, the Brooklyn Paper reported Wednesday.

For years, a group of coop members known as Park Slope Food Coop BDS (BDS stands for "Boycott, Divestment and Sanction") has been pushing to keep Israeli products out of the store, in protest against that country's treatment of Palestinians.

Things took a dramatic turn at an April 2015 coop meeting, the Brooklyn Paper reported, where BDS members were making their case against carrying home seltzer machines made by Israeli company Soda Stream.

The four suspended members reportedly went up to the presenters and unplugged the cords connecting their computer to the coop's projector. This spring, all four were suspended for a year, following a disciplinary hearing.

“I didn’t go up there to be a hero, but I am a hero,” one of those suspended, Rhudi Andreolli, told the paper in defense of her actions.

Meanwhile, the coop has made it harder to boycott products. In late January, its members voted to set a policy that 75 percent of the membership must approve any product boycott, rather than the previous level of 50 percent.

Though the vote didn't cite a specific target, BDS members said it was clear they were the victims of "a dark era of McCarthyism at the Food Coop and beyond."

Patch couldn't immediately reach the coop on Wednesday for comment.

Read the full story at the Brooklyn Paper.