The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law is weighing whether to sue the Park Slope Food Coop after the Brooklyn, N.Y., store voted on Tuesday night to boycott Israeli products.
Omer Wiczyk, senior counsel at the center, told JNS that he has been in contact with “numerous” members of the co-op both before and after the vote and is “looking aggressively to see what recourse we can take through the legal process.”
“These types of boycott, divestment and sanctions resolutions end up bubbling over into more aggressive antisemitic conduct,” he told JNS. “They are inherently antisemitic and anti-Israeli, and these movements don’t stop with a boycott.”
“We know where this is going, and that’s why we are going to get out ahead of it,” he said.
The attorney noted that supporters of the boycott measure made antisemitic comments, including someone saying during a co-op debate that “Jewish supremacism is a problem in this country.” Some at the meeting applauded the latter statement.
“‘Jewish supremacy’ is a classic dog whistle, a classic antisemitic trope,” Wiczyk told JNS. “It shows intent. When the members of the coop that are advocating in favor of the resolution are talking about ‘Jewish supremacy’ and applauding each other, it indicates to you that—is this really about the treatment of Palestinians or something else?”
“There is evidence of antisemitic animus going back 18 months,” he said.
