May 26, 2026
By Alyce Barr, Naomi Brussel and Rachel James
The authors are members of PSFC Members for Palestine and presenters of the proposal to boycott Israeli products. Our proposal text is the following:
“Until Israel complies with international law, including by ceasing unlawful discriminatory practices in its treatment of Palestinians, the Coop will not sell goods produced in Israel (pre-1967 borders) or in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
We stand together with over 3,500 Coop members who have signed our petition in support of this boycott. For us personally, as Jews, this act of solidarity ties us to generations of progressive Jewish activism. Never again means never again for anyone!
The Coop is not “just a grocery store.” It is a dynamic and complex social organization. Generations of member-owners have worked to run the store and effect social change, guided and inspired by our Mission Statement, history, and current issues. Our mission mandates that the Coop oppose discrimination, respect the environment, and “seek to avoid products that rely on the exploitation of others.”
Our proposed boycott stands firmly within the Coop’s long and proud tradition of consumer boycotts, in which we joined forces with wider social justice movements. Examples include our boycott of Apartheid South Africa in 1973; a boycott of Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile that same year; and solidarity with U.S. labor struggles like the United Farm Workers boycott. In 1993, we boycotted Colorado’s products due to its anti-LGBTQ+ laws; we supported strikes at Domino Sugar in 2001; and we voted 59% to boycott Tom Cat Bakery to protect workers from ICE in 2017, though the boycott was blocked by the anti-democratic 75% supermajority requirement for boycotts established the year prior.
Our proposed boycott is a response to the brutal apartheid regime Israel imposes on Palestinians. Similar to the former white supremacist government in South Africa, apartheid Israel uses separation walls, military checkpoints, mass surveillance, home demolitions, and land seizures to dominate Palestinian people. Israeli settlers, with government backing, regularly attack and kill Palestinians to establish settlements illegal under international law.
This long-standing expansionist policy, rooted in ethnic cleansing and dispossession, has escalated into a genocide in Gaza: at least 72,000 confirmed Palestinian deaths from direct attacks, with indirect deaths estimated to be four-times higher due to mass starvation, destruction of virtually all homes and essential infrastructure and a blockade of humanitarian aid. This is one of the worst mass atrocities of modern times, and the slaughter continues with direct U.S. government support.
The global, nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was initiated by Palestinians in 2005. It calls for economic pressure to compel Israel to comply with international law. The BDS movement is rapidly expanding, with the UK Coop (6.3 million members) voting 73% yes to boycott alongside the Italian Coop Alleanza 3.0 (2.7 million) and Unicoop Firenze (1 million). Locally, our sister Greene Hill Food Coop voted for a boycott in 2024. Also in the city, the NYC public hospital system canceled its $4 million contract with Palantir, an Israeli military and ICE partner, while the Brooklyn Navy Yard evicted a supplier of drones to the Israeli military and ICE after intense public pressure.
Boycotts are proven, effective nonviolent tools. They were critical in securing victories across the U.S. Civil Rights and labor rights movements and in dismantling South African apartheid. Building on this powerful history, our Coop can send a clear message that Israel must adhere to international law. As Nelson Mandela explained in 1997, “Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”