A five-year food fight that’s left both sides queasy is about to be decided.
Members of the popular Park Slope Food Coop will vote tomorrow on whether to hold a referendum on a proposed boycott of Israeli products.
Some anti-Israel members want products made in Israel off the trendy Brooklyn food-cooperative’s shelves in protest of that country’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
However, others say the idea stinks of anti-Semitism and goes against the 39-year-old Union Street co-op’s mission statement of commitment to “diversity and equality.”
The turnout of the co-op’s monthly meeting is expected to be so large that it’s been moved from a small neighborhood synagogue to a 3,000-seat auditorium at Brooklyn Technical High School. It starts at 7 p.m.
If a majority of members attending shoot the down the referendum proposal, it’s dead and the co-op can continue selling Israel-imported products like the popular-selling Sodastream seltzer maker, bath salts and paprika.
But if there’s enough support, the issue will be decided in the coming months through a mail-ballot referendum distributed to co-op’s 16,000 members.
“There are many loud voices on both sides of this issue, but even more who haven’t spoken,” said Irina Ivanova, a leader of the co-op group pushing the boycott. “By asking for a referendum, we’re simply asking that everyone who wants to weigh in on this issue can do so.”
But Barbara Mazor, a leader of the anti-boycott contingent, disagrees, saying “it would be damaging and toxic to us as a co-op to get involved in such a contentious, divisive issue.”
The referendum push is part of an international movement, called “B.D.S” for “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions,” aimed at pressuring Israel into pulling out of Palestinian territories.
While similar Israeli boycotts have been proposed in America, the only grocery store nationwide to agree to one is a food co-op in Olympia, Wash in 2010. It has since been sued for its actions.
The Israeli-product debate first surfaced at the Park Slope food co-op five years year, but started heating up in 2010 as some members began pushing the referendum plan.
Members on both sides now have dueling blogs and Facebook pages giving their slanted views, and the co-op’s publication, Linewaiter’s Gazette, has been flooded in recent years with letters debating the controversial issue.
As for the co-op’s management team, it opposes the referendum but doesn’t have a say.
“We feel [a boycott] would be divisive,” Ann Herpel, a general coordinator at the co-op told The Post last year. “We want to be good stewards and make all people feel welcome.”
Boycotts are not new at the co-op, as its board has previously voted various products off shelves, including Coca-Cola products because of alleged illegal labor practices in Colombia.