A Challenge to Peace Activists and BDS Supporters

I see that I got some attention from the BDS advocates. Our Park Slope Food Coop BDS promoters have finally noticed the difference between a "tenant" and a "tenet.".

So, I invite you guys who think BDS is a good idea for our Coop to engage in a discussion here. I will publish any reasoned statement, as long as it doesn't resort to profanity or name calling. Ok?

I will start with a few questions. At your Images of Palestine event, some of you said BDS will pressure Israel to end the occupation.

1. When you say "occupation" do you mean the entire former British Mandate or only the territories beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines that were not controlled by Israel? 


2. Do you believe that Israel has security concerns? If you say no, then please state why not. If you say yes, then please state how BDS addresses those security concerns.

Do I have any fans?

The Truth Abouth the Refugees

A five and a half minute history lesson on a complicated subject:

The Minister and Me

The Communists in the Former Soviet Union hated religion. But they especially hated Judaism. It was illegal to teach Hebrew and Judaism. It was illegal to publicly practice Judaism. Jews experienced horrible discrimination and oppression.

In the late 1960's, here in the United States and Israel, Jews began to work to improve the condition of Jews in the Soviet Union. We worked to allow them to emigrate to Israel and to end the persecution. In the 1970's and 80's, when I was a teen and in my 20's, I spent many a Sunday at demonstrations and activities on behalf of Soviet Jews. With the support of Senators Henry "Scoop" Jackson and Charles Vanick, we successfully lobbied Congress to link Human Rights with trade with the USSR and other nations with controlled economies.

We were inspired by the young men and women who risked their freedom and livelihood by secretly teaching Hebrew and applying for visas to move to Israel. Many went to prison. One of them was Yuli Edelstein.

Yuli Edelstein was allowed to emigrate to Israel in 1987. He entered public service and today serves in Israel's Cabinet as the Minister of Information and Diaspora Affairs. On December 4, 2011, he visited the Park Slope Food Coop as part of the promotion of Buy Israel Week and to offer his support and encouragement to our anti-BDS efforts at the Coop.

This is the Minister and that is me with my back to the camera. I am reciting to him from the prayer for the State of Israel that we say in synagogues on Saturday - "Our Heavenly Father should send his Light and Truth to the leaders, ministers and advisers of Israels."

Just how effective has nearly 3 years of BDS efforts at the Coop been?  Well, if SodaStream sales are any indication, the BDS message is being ignored.   We are currently selling about 12 carbonators a week.  In addition, we are selling over 100 replacement CO2 canisters.  Then there are the extra bottles, caps and syrups.  I conservatively estimate current gross sales of SodaStream products be over $2,600 / week.  The current rate of canisters sales means a reduction of over 350,000 plastic 1 liter soda bottles from entering the waste stream.

What else are Coop members ignoring?  They seem to have mostly ignored the young man wearing the PFLP t-shirt who was giving out flyers for the BDS education event on Sunday.

What Kind of Coop Do We Want To Be?

What kind of Coop do we want to be? Do we want to be a place where people of all different perspectives and outlooks can come together and find common ground in their interest in healthy fresh food and their willingness to be part our collective enterprise? Are we to be a community where we can assume that each person who joins it will act for the good of the community as a whole and will not inflict damage on that community and pain on its members, even for a cause she believes in strongly? Or are we to be a place where anyone can promote any political agenda, and exploit the good name of our Coop?

The members promoting a referendum on joining the BDS movement claim “avoiding discussion on an important issue does not build unity – it builds anxiety and mistrust.” So they have imposed a discussion of the Middle East conflict upon us. They want the Coop to be “welcoming to everyone who would express themselves on this issue.”

But the discussion they offer is not an honest one. This group conducted a program in the Coop on Dec 4. It was attended by about 20 people in addition to the organizers and presenters. I do not doubt the presenters sincerely believe themselves to be advocates of peace. Yet, they appeared singularly unknowledgeable regarding certain facts, and in some case transmitted information that was outright wrong. Not everything expressed at this program was consistent with the true pursuit of peace.

What kind of peace activist wears a t-shirt with the emblem of the terrorist organization responsible for the 1974 murders of 17 Puerto Ricans, 1 Canadian and 9 Israelis at Lod airport? What kind of peace activist suggests that suicide bombings directed against civilians is justified? What kind of peace activist stays silent when someone says that, and will not unequivocally say “murder of civilians is wrong in all cases”? Is this the “expressions on this issue” we want to welcome at the coop? Or does it “build anxiety and mistrust”?

If you are a Coop member, please join me and more than 200 others in telling these “peace activists” to drop their BDS campaign at the Coop. The Coop doesn’t want or need this discussion. Send an email to morehummus@gmail.com.

To Leaflet or Not to Leaflet

For those of you who follow this blog but are not members of the Park Slope Food Coop, I am pleased to report that we are now at 203 supporters.

Recently the pro-BDS group has been handing out flyers in front of the Coop. The flyers advocate holding a referendum on joining the BDS movement. The text is pretty much the same as on this page of the pro-BDS website.

Some in our group have suggested we respond with our own flyers.  Reasons to respond are:

1. Not everyone reads the Gazette, but everyone coming to the Coop gets a flyer.
2. If we don't respond, it appears there is no opposition.
3. Someone might be convinced by the flyer to support the referendum, even if she doesn't support BDS.

Reasons not to responds are:

1. Giving out flyers annoys people.
2. Flyers create waste; even in New York City, where paper is recycled.
3. It is not necessarily a good use of time and money.

I oppose BDS because it is wrong, because it is not a peace movement.  I also oppose the exploitation of the Food Coop for political purposes.  People joined it because it is a food store.  I feel that promoting BDS - or for that matter any cause that does not have a direct impact on the Coop's operation -  is a usurpation of the Coop's prime purpose.  I don't want to increase the pollution of our civic space.

What do you think?

Who Wants Peace? Who Doesn't?

Plain and Simple #4 - "A Welcoming Place"

Here is another gem from our pro-BDS people at the Park Slope Food Coop, as part of their reasons why we should join the boycott.

It [joining the BDS movement] will also make the PSFC a more welcoming place for all people who want justice realized in Palestine.

Setting aside what "justice in Palestine" might mean - that will have to be a separate post - I assume they are talking about themselves. Are they saying they don't feel welcome? So let's see:

1. They have had over two and half years of letters printed in the Linewaiters' Gazette.
2. They have had an entire General Meeting devoted to their topic.
3. They have had hosted several education events in the Coop.
4. They give out flyers in front of the Coop.
5. They have 2 items sitting on the Agenda Committee list.

Just how much more welcome do they need to feel?

And since when is holding a political position akin to race or ethnicity or religion or sex or orientation? Since when are holders of a political positions a protected group? By definition, holding a position means excluding those who hold the opposite position. So, we have to be more welcoming to one group by endorsing a position that will make the people who disagree with them feel less welcome.

These are peace activists? This is the meaning of co-existence?

If your head hasn't exploded yet, can someone please explain to me the logic of "If you won't take a position on an issue, then your inaction means you support the people I disagree with."?

Once again, plain and simple, they don't know what they are talking about.