On Tuesday, May 26, the supermarket Park Slope Food Coop’s members decided to vote for the boycott of Israeli products after a heated debate that turned confrontational.
In many ways, this vote cannot be separated from NY Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s decision to skip the Israel parade on May 31.
Park Slope is one of the most liberal neighborhoods in the entire country.
Ninety-two percent of its citizens voted for Kamala Harris against Donald Trump, and it is also home to a major Jewish community.
Symbolically, this boycott vote illustrates the new litmus test that Israel has become among progressives and what is at stake for the overwhelmingly liberal Jewish community in the United States, in a context of rising antisemitism, including and especially in New York City.
The mayor has received and honored Jewish leaders at Gracie Mansion in celebration of Jewish Heritage Month. He has increased the budget for anti-hate crimes, has denounced antisemitic acts unequivocally, and is most likely not antisemitic himself.
But whether Mamdani is antisemitic is actually irrelevant; what matters is whether his policies and actions help Jews feel safe, including those who express their Jewishness through identification with, and support for, Israel.
Israel is a major source of Jewish pride and belonging today for the majority of American Jews, beyond the legitimate disagreements over Israeli policies, and it is actually no coincidence that the pro-Israel parade takes place at the very end of Jewish Heritage Month.
Mamdani’s rhetoric and actions in relation to Israel tend to normalize anti-Zionism and isolate Jews who define themselves as Zionists.
When the mayor calls for divestment from Israel but not from other countries, he signals that this is an appropriate and progressive course of action that can be emulated elsewhere, like in the Park Slope Coop.
Anti-Zionism is not only becoming acceptable and even encouraged, but also a rite of passage, a litmus test to be accepted in the progressive tribe.
From boycott to broader exclusion
The problem with the logic at play in Park Slope Food Coop is that it can extend from boycotting products to boycotting individuals, making it harder for Israeli musicians to perform in New York or prompting calls to boycott a bakery during its staff’s unionization efforts against their Jewish owners over “their support for the genocide.”
This symbolic violence can (and has already) become physical, against Israelis, supporters of Israel, or Zionists, and ultimately all Jews.
This is a very dangerous slippery slope that preceded Mamdani, but that the mayor vindicates and legitimizes, in the biggest Jewish city in the world, when he refuses to condemn slogans like “Globalize the intifada.”
Mamdani could have made a brief appearance at the pro-Israel parade, said a few words – even critical of Israel’s government – and left.
Instead, he chose not to engage but to ignore Israel and render it invisible – or even non-existent – implying to his “Jewish brothers and sisters” that Israel is not a legitimate or politically correct expression of their Jewishness.
The boycott at Park Slope will not weaken Israel’s economy, but it does single out a country that most Jews still identify with and love, despite their criticisms.
It marks a desire to erase Israel’s existence symbolically and, thereby, the possibility to define one’s Jewish identity through the country, which is no longer “kosher.”
In essence, the “Jewish heritage” that is celebrated by progressives and New York’s mayor does not include the Jewish state. It is at best tone-deaf, and at worst, a dangerous hypocrisy that puts Jewish life and lives at risk.
Born and raised in France, the writer is the correspondent of French Jewish radio, Radio J, and of the French paper librejournal.fr in the US, where he has been living for 16 years. He is also a contributor to the European Review and the French paper Tenoua. He also holds US and Israeli citizenship. His opinions are his only.