Feelings run high at River Valley Co-op over ‘de-shelving’ campaign targeting Israeli products

A product sold at River Valley Co-op produced in Israel. Honey Pot Tampon was started by a woman of color from the United States for health reasons. The company grew and now has production and distribution faculties in multiple places around the world, including Israel.

A product sold at River Valley Co-op produced in Israel. Honey Pot Tampon was started by a woman of color from the United States for health reasons. The company grew and now has production and distribution faculties in multiple places around the world, including Israel. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS

Products sold at River Valley Co-op that are made in Israel.

Products sold at River Valley Co-op that are made in Israel. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS

Products sold at River Valley Co-op from Israel include Zeta olive oil.

Products sold at River Valley Co-op from Israel include Zeta olive oil. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS

Products sold at River Valley Co-op from Israel include Zeta olive oil.

Products sold at River Valley Co-op from Israel include Zeta olive oil. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS

By ALEXA LEWIS

Staff Writer

Published: 10-21-2024 5:07 PM

EASTHAMPTON — River Valley Co-op’s more than 16,000 member-owners are being asked to participate in an advisory poll regarding the removal of Israeli products from its shelves at its Easthampton and Northampton locations.

The petition supporting this initiative states that it would “align the Co-op with our collective values” and could effect change in the ongoing conflict overseas by removing fiscal support through the shelving of Israeli goods. However, some co-op member-owners doubt the ability of a local boycott to influence the actions of powerful foreign actors, saying that the petition instead presents a harmful binary and is “unnecessarily divisive.”

The petition asks the co-op to de-shelve all Israeli goods, refrain from purchasing Israeli goods in the future, and publicly identify as an “Apartheid-Free Co-op.” According to organizers of the petition, it currently has 1,048 total signatures, with 474 from member-owners of the Co-op.

After the initial rejection of the de-shelving petition by co-op leaders, an additional petition was sent to co-op leadership on Aug. 25 calling for a special membership meeting to discuss the de-shelving proposal. The meeting is scheduled for Oct. 30 at 6:30 p.m., which is also the day that polling on the issue is set to end at 11:59 p.m. A “no” vote would reject the “Apartheid-Free River Valley Co-op” petition to ban products from Israel, while a “yes” vote would support the petition and ban.

Products listed in the petition that have been identified as coming from Israel are Soom Tahini, Wild Harvest Tahini, Mighty Sesame Co. Tahini, Field Day Tahini, Honey Pot tampons, Nuts.com Israeli Couscous and Let’s Do Organic: Organic Sugar Cones, but the petition states that Israeli products in the store are not limited to these goods. 

Co-op leadership is asking that member-owners vote “no” on the proposal, having previously stated that their priority is preserving choice on the shelves.

“While we know this is a choice some in our community want to make for themselves, the option to purchase products from Israel is important to many in our community,” they said in a recent message to member-owners. “This is a highly divisive proposal that has brought conflict into our co-op stores that is harmful to people and our shared cooperative business.”

Rochelle Prunty, the general manager of River Valley Co-op, said that much of the co-op’s position on the issue stems from the fact that “food is deeply personal.” The goal of the advisory poll and meeting, she said, is to let everyone have their voices heard and allow the co-op’s leadership to hear the diversity of views on the issue.

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So far, Prunty said she hasn’t seen a “strong consensus” among co-op membership about the de-shelving campaign, and she doesn’t believe it is fair “for one segment of co-op voters to make another segment feel excluded.”

“We specialize in including — being as inclusive as we can for our community,” Prunty said. “Banning all products from Israel makes many people feel that they’re unwelcome, and like they’ve been banned.”

Easthampton City Councilor Owen Zaret has been vocal in the community in saying that he stands with the decision of the co-op’s leadership, and said that “indiscriminately removing products” from Israel is “just divisive for the community,” and forces a “binary view” on an issue with “a lot of nuance.”

“I think the intentions are good. People want an end to this war … But it’s certainly not going to change the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu,” Zaret said. “As a municipal representative and a Jewish person, there’s got to be better ways to have this conversation.”

Two organizers of the “Apartheid-Free River Valley Co-op” petition, Ian Petty and Molly Merret, explained that the petition is part of a broader boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, movement launched as a nonviolent movement in Palestinian civil society in 2005, modeled on the anti-apartheid campaigns targeting the South African government.

“In light of the Co-op’s stance in issuing a ceasefire resolution, we now invite the Co-op to join the community in taking the next step by removing products that support Israeli apartheid and the continued oppression of the Palestinian people,” the petition reads, proceeding to explain that “apartheid, defined as a state-sanctioned system of discrimination based on race, is enforced on Palestinians through fragmentation, dispossession, occupation, and segregation. Israel excludes Palestinians from full citizenship and denies them basic human rights.”

“It’s a time-tested model for achieving justice,” Petty said of the BDS movement. “I think we should take seriously that we could have an immense impact.”

Merret called the de-shelving a way to “do something substantive” by using “what power we do have as consumers,” emphasizing that, as a Jewish person, she does not find the petition divisive.

Jean Frances, who voiced in a letter to the Gazette that she would be voting “yes” in the advisory poll, added that she thinks this de-shelving initiative is “the very least we can do” amid the ongoing conflict. Merret echoed this sentiment, stating that de-shelving Israeli products at the co-op would just be “the first step” in further advocacy for “similar commitments from other stores.”

“I joined the co-op as a political act, believing it would reflect my values of local food, workers rights, sustainability, alternatives to corporate control of food systems, and support of businesses that reflect these values and universal human rights,” Frances wrote in the letter. “Now I have the opportunity to vote to have the co-op live up to my founding vision by voting yes on the proposal to de-shelf products from Israel.”

Petty acknowledged that the boycott would only influence a small number of products carried by the co-op, but said that removing them would send a message to the community about the co-op’s values. Both Petty and Merret stated that they believe shelving products that “support human rights abuses” is antithetical to the values of the co-op.

Petty and Merret said that the co-op serves as an ideal platform for the de-shelving campaign because it is “democratically organized” and “social justice minded,” as displayed by the Black Lives Matter and pride flags hanging there. Petty also emphasized that the co-op regularly makes decisions about what products to include and exclude on its shelves, noting its prioritization of local goods and stating that the co-op does not carry PepsiCo products and for a time did not carry Driscoll’s products due to “human rights violations.”

“There’s precedence for this at the co-op,” said Petty. “They exercise this kind of discretion all the time.”

However, Prunty contends that this is not true. According to her, the co-op never shelved PepsiCo products or “any traditional soft drinks” due to limited shelf space and a commitment to prioritizing healthy foods and drinks. When it comes to Driscoll’s, Prunty said that what was at work was a “labor issue” leading to a union boycott that the co-op agreed to sign onto.

“That was an issue of a specific company with a specific issue, not banning products from an entire country,” she said.

‘Community letter’ expresses concern about petition

Some members of the co-op community have begun circulating a “community letter” calling on co-op members to reject the “Apartheid-Free River Valley Co-op” petition through the advisory vote. The letter, which organizers say is signed by “a few hundred members” of the co-op, takes issue with the de-shelving campaign and the language of the petition itself, stating that it “expresses a simplistic and one-sided worldview in which Israel, its citizens, and those with cultural or religious ties to it, are held solely accountable for the conflict.”

Organizers of the letter declined to give an exact number of signatories, stating they wished to keep the focus on the advisory vote itself.

Shanna Fishel, an Israeli-American Jewish organizer of the letter, emphasized that many Jewish individuals hold deeply personal ties to Israel, yet do not support its current government under Benjamin Netanyahu, but the petition targets Israeli citizens and civil society rather than the government itself.

The letter states that the petition omits “any mention of the horrific actions of Hamas on October 7,” and “does not recognize Israel’s right to self-determination or Jews’ indigenous and historic ties to the land.”

“This Apartheid-Free initiative, and the BDS movement overall, targets Israeli civil society rather than its government, treating all Israelis as if they were collectively responsible for their government’s actions,” the letter reads. “We do not believe that justice can be achieved through unjust means … If you cannot see the other, you can never reach a resolution that will bring peace, security, and self-determination to all those who call Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza home.”

In addition, the letter says that the designation of Israel as an “apartheid state” is an “inflammatory” misrepresentation of legal findings, in response to the petition’s statement that “Israel is an apartheid state, as ruled by the International Court of Justice and many other human rights organizations around the world.”

The letter also states a commitment to “open commerce” and the co-op’s mission to support local food systems.

Jennifer Luddy, another organizer of the letter, said that the language of the petition is “very binary” in discussing an issue with a vast diversity of views and emotions surrounding it.

“We see a future for both Palestinians and Israelis, and the language of the petition is very one-sided,” said Luddy. Luddy also stated that the petition and de-shelving campaign go “beyond the scope” of the co-op’s mission, which is, at its core, to support local communities and agriculture.

Lois Dubin, another organizer of the letter, agreed that the petition creates a “false binary” that being “pro-Israel” means being “anti-Palestine” and vice versa, and that the co-op is “not the place” for this kind of complex geopolitical debate.

“The co-op is a diverse community, we have different views of what to do,” Dubin said. “Let people find a way to do what they believe is most effective.”

Fishel said that among those who signed and provided input for the community letter, some “common themes” arose, with many signatories saying that they believe the petition is divisive but will not have an impact on the ongoing war, and some saying that the current debate and demonstrations have already made them feel unwelcome, leading some to resign their memberships. Others noted that they plan to resign their memberships if the advisory poll results in an overall “yes” to the petition.

A few questioned why there has been no call to remove Chinese products from the shelves or products from other countries with ongoing human rights violations in factories and beyond.

For Prunty and other members of the co-op’s leadership, the hope is that the Oct. 30 special membership meeting will allow members’ voices to be heard while bringing the community together. Prunty said that the meeting will allow individuals from both the “yes” and “no” vote camps to express their views, fostering an open, respectful discussion. The meeting will be private and not open to the public. Voting on the advisory poll will end that day, and Prunty said the results will likely be available a few days later.

An overall “yes” vote will be taken into account by co-op leadership, but will not necessarily mean that Israeli products will be de-shelved.

“The meeting is just for people to listen to each other,” Prunty said. “We are so much more aligned in our humanity than we are falling on either side of this issue. We don’t have to be so divided.”

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.