Ritchie Torres Urges Investigation Into Popular New York City Food Co-Op Over Alleged Antisemitism

US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) has sent a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, along with other top state and city officials, demanding an investigation into an alleged spate of antisemitic incidents occurring at the Park Slope Food Co-Op in Brooklyn. 

According to the letter, Jewish and Israeli members of the community have experienced “verbal harassment, including antisemitic slurs and threatening behavior” by employees of the co-op in the 19 months following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. Torres also wrote that members of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — an initiative which aims to economically isolate Israel as a step toward its eventual destruction — have attempted to “capture the co-op’s governance structure and advance an ideological agenda of anti-Zionist exclusion.”

Co-op employees reportedly told a Jewish community member that they “smelled like Palestinian children’s blood,” in one incident outlined by Torres. Another non-Jewish community member was “verbally berated and intimidated” for wearing a “culturally Israeli food costume.”

Moreover, community members allege that the co-op’s Dispute Resolution Committee and Agenda Committee has been overtaken by supporters of the anti-Israel BDS movement. These committee members “selectively enforce” rules in a way which unfairly targets Jewish and Israeli individuals, according to Torres.

“The cumulative effect is the creation of a hostile environment for Jews, particularly those who affirm a connection to the Jewish homeland,” the letter states.

Torres has requested that top state and city officials approve a “thorough investigation by both the New York State Division of Human Rights and the New York City Commission on Human Rights” to uncover the alleged antisemitic conduct at the Park Slope Food Co-op. 

“Discriminatory movements like BDS will find no refuge in the State or City of New York. Jewish New Yorkers are no exception to the rule against discrimination and no less entitled to dignity, safety, and equality in our civic life,” the letter reads.

Joe Holtz, co-founder of the food co-op, told the New York Post that the organization “is against discrimination of any kind” and declined further comment.

A spokesperson for Adams said New York City intends to review “the troubling events at the co-op” and will respond to Torres.

“Mayor Adams has been clear that far too often we see antisemitic propaganda masquerading as activism, and it has led to an unacceptable rise in antisemitism throughout our city and country,” mayoral spokeswoman Sophia Askari told the Post. “This is on full display in incidents at the Park Slope Food Co-op — where Jewish people are being harassed simply for being Jewish.”

New York City specifically has been ravaged by a surge in antisemitic incidents in the 19 months following the Oct. 7 onslaught, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. According to police data, Jews were targeted in the majority of hate crimes perpetrated in the city last year. Pro-Hamas activists have held raucous — and sometimes violent — protests on the city’s college campuses, oftentimes causing Jewish students to fear for their safety.

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