Olympia Food Co-op boycotts Israeli goods

By PAUL HAIST
article created on: 2010-08-01T00:00:00
A decision by the board of a food co-op in Olympia, Wash., to boycott all Israeli products has sparked a heated public debate and led to steps by regional Jewish leaders to reverse the decision and educate the public. In a 9-1 vote, the board of directors of the Olympia Food Co-op, which operates two grocery stores in Olympia, voted on July 15 to remove all Israeli products from their shelves.

In a news release announcing their decision the OFC said, “…the Board of Directors of the Olympia Food Co-op (www.olympiafood.coop) decided to boycott Israeli-made products and divest from investments in Israeli companies. The decision to boycott was made based on the co-op’s mission statement in accordance with our bylaws, and based on information from respected international sources.”

The announcement listed the United Nations, the Red Cross and Amnesty International as the sources of its information. It asked that Israel “end its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantles the (security) wall, (that) Israel recognize the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality” and that “Israel respects, protects and promotes the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.”

Responding to initial reports of the OFC board action, Robert Horenstein, staff director of the Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland sent an email to the OFC on July 22 requesting that they repeal what he termed their “shortsighted decision.”
Horenstein told the OFC board their decision was “offensive and counter-productive” and that the process that led to their decision apparently “excluded anyone who might have brought forward a pro-Israel perspective.”

“One wonders why a co-op, or any other business, would single out Israel, a vibrant democracy, for punitive action,” wrote Horenstein. He asked if they were calling for boycotts also of “Turkey, which has killed countless Kurdish civilians in northern Iraq. Are you refusing to import products from any number of Arab countries that are notorious human rights abusers?” The co-op pointed out in its announcement that it does boycott products from China. Horenstein offered the CRC as an informational resource for the co-op.

Among Israeli products reportedly removed from the stores’ shelves are gluten-free crackers, ice cream cones and a moisturizing cream. It was not clear what, if any, investments the co-op has in Israel.
About 20 co-op members demonstrated in front of one of the stores after the decision became known, according to Rob Jacobs, the Northwest regional director of Stand With Us, an international pro-Israel education organization. Jacobs is based in Seattle.

Jacobs said co-op staff initially wanted to call the police to have the demonstrators arrested. Board members reportedly intervened to prevent that. Jacobs told Horenstein that his group, in partnership with others, planned to begin seeking petition signatures in front of both co-op outlets in an effort to get the board to reconsider its decision. Three hundred signatures are needed.

Rabbi Seth Goldstein of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia wrote about the boycott in his “Weekly Words” column for his congregation. He said, among much else,” I feel that the language of the boycott goals are too extreme, and point to the denial of Israel’s right to exist.” He cited the first of the co-op’s three conditions for canceling it boycott, that Israel “end its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands.” He said that what constitutes “Arab lands” is subject to various interpretations and that some opponents of Israel might argue that all of Israel is Arab land.

Goldstein also found fault with the process by which the boycott decision was made. “I felt the board of the co-op did not recognize that this issue rose to the level of needing membership input. In that, the decision was undemocratic.” Goldstein’s full remarks are available online at bethhatfiloh.org/notesfromthe­rabbi.htm Goldstein and his wife, Yohanna Kinberg, the associate rabbi of Temple Bnai Torah in Bellevue, Wash., are members of the co-op. Goldstein told The Olympian newspaper that he and his wife will no longer shop at the co-op because of the boycott decision.
Kinberg, the daughter of the late Rabbi Myron Kinberg formerly of Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, said that they will retain their membership in the co-op so that they can have a voice within the organization.

Kinberg said she protested the board’s boycott decision with a lone vigil outside one store on July 21. After posting news of the boycott vote on Facebook, she was joined the next two days by larger groups numbering about 20. She said that demonstrations against the boycott have continued daily since then.
Jacobs said that Rabbi Cheski Edelman of Chabad of Olympia, the leadership of Olympia’s Congregation B’nai Torah, the Seattle office the American Jewish Committee and Consul Akiva Tor and his staff of Israel’s San Francisco-based consulate for the Pacific Northwest region are also all aware of and involved in addressing the Olympia boycott issue.

Kinberg said, “The focus of the organizing effort right now is to focus on the bad process of the co-op board and not make this a referendum on Israel. The pro boycott people are not people you can argue with.”

The co-op board will meet again on Aug. 11, when opponents of their recent vote hope to present a petition signed by at least 300 co-op members—the required minimum—asking that the board reconsider its action.

Kinberg said boycott proponents include individuals associated with the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. “We’ve identified several as paid BDF organizers,” she said. Jacobs told Horenstein, “Given that (Israel) boycott resolutions now have been introduced at the Port Townsend, Bellingham (and) Yakima coops, it is essential that we reverse this undemocratically and intentionally hidden discussion and vote.”

http://www.jewishreview.org/local/Olympia-Food+Co-op-boycotts-Israeli-goods+