October 8, 2007, - 10:09 am

Kristallnacht Eve, The Sequel: Liberal Michigan Co-Op Boycotts Israel, Utters Anti-Semitic Slogans, Displays Swastikas

By
Tune in to what’s going on at the People’s Food Co-Op in Ann Arbor a/k/a the “Ann Arbor Co-Op.” What’s going on there today, could happen in your neck of the woods, tomorrow. In fact, the way things are going with the rise of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel hate, I’d bet this trend catches on elsewhere very soon.
At the granola-ish base of the University of Michigan campus–you know the granola types?: fruits, nuts, and flakes–the Ann Arbor Co-Op is the cheap, more dated version of today’s Whole Foods. Sadly, this anachronistic bastion of leftism lives on.



Everyone Welcome”?:

Crescent in Ann Arbor Food Co-Op’s Sign Literally Trumps Its Message

Even sadder, in a wave of anti-Semitism, the Co-Op is voting whether to ban all products made in Israel. Its members voted on the proposal, and in the meeting, anti-Semitic statements were made in support of the proposal, with non-members who supported the ban holding up swastikas. Even if the measure fails, that they even voted on it says it all. Will they vote on separate lunchcounters, next?
Yup, the new Nazis have shown their faces and openly admitted their card-carrying membership in the Fourth Reich. When even the Detroit Free Press’ resident Islamist reporter calls it anti-Semitic, you know that it is.
Hmmm . . . maybe I should wear around Ann Arbor. Seems it’s come back into fashion:

Last month, about 1,100 members of the co-op voted on a proposal that, if approved, would ban the store from selling goods from Israel. The results are to be released Thursday after a year of debate across metro Detroit. The co-op has many members in the tri-country area who have closely followed the controversy.
Opponents of the proposal say . . . that Israel often suffers from attacks against its civilians, and that the store sells products from countries such as China that aren’t democratic and have poor human rights records.
“It’s wrong to single out Israel without making an effort to address Palestinian violence,” said Dan Cutler, a co-op member from Ann Arbor who opposes the boycott. “This is a divisive tactic that doesn’t help build a future for both people to secure prosperity and safety.” . . .
The controversy started when a shopper got upset after seeing that the store was selling Israeli couscous. A petition drive was launched, and a group called Boycott Israeli Goods garnered enough signatures to get a ballot proposal on which the co-op’s roughly 6,000 members could vote.
Two previous co-op boycotts involved tuna that harmed dolphins and grapes, in support of farm workers. Both boycotts ended years ago.
Last month, members cast ballots on the Israeli-products boycott. At times, the arguments involved anti-Semitic sentiments. Some boycott supporters held up Nazi swastikas outside the store, concerning many shoppers.
Karen Deslierres of Detroit, a co-op member who supports the boycott, said she is concerned about what she calls the “degradation of the Palestinians.”
Regardless of the vote results, the process has been a healthy exercise, said Linda Diane Feldt, co-op president.
“This is democracy in action,” she said.

Yeah, like the “democracy in action” that elected HAMAS . . . and Ahmadinejad . . . and Hezbollah . . . and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Yet another “development” in our society that I’m glad my father, Blessed Be His Memory, didn’t live to see. Simply nauseating.
Fruits, nuts, flakes, with a little hate thrown in, just to make it truly organic.
The thing is, they will take products made by Muslims and other Arabs from Israel, just not those made by THE JOOOOOS. We know what this is about. It’s anti-Semitism, plain and simple. No different than the men in those sharp, clean brown shirts.
By the way, as my friend Yigal says, if they really want to boycott Israel, they should put down all of their gadgets, all of their technology. Because whatever they have, if the Israelis didn’t invent it, they made it better


Good Ole Kurt Returns From Hell . . .

For New Gig as People’s Food Co-Op Spokesmodel




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18 Responses

How many Jews are members of this Co-op? Will this action finally wake up these idiot self-hating lefty Jews? Probably not.

lexi on October 8, 2007 at 10:49 am

Let’s boycott ALL foreign goods and make everything here again in America. Those things we cannot make we should learn to live without. Neoliberalism is a failed policy anyhow except for the very, very few who profit immensely from it.

Bill Petty on October 8, 2007 at 11:06 am

I noticed that ultra-liberal Allan Gale, the associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metro Detroit, is quoted in the article. Not reassuring when sound bites replace action.

Bomb Bomb Iran on October 8, 2007 at 11:33 am

“”It’s a negative effort, it’s one-sided and biased,” Gale said. “You need to promote cooperation and investment, buying more products from both Palestinians and Israelis because that will bring a better life for both and less radicalism, and more support for peace.””
Buy more products from the Palestinians? Great “solution” Allan. Do you work for the Palestinian Community Relations Counsel of Metro-Detroit?
Also couldn’t help but notice the moral equivalence in his statement. This is not the kind of advocacy that helps the Jewish community.
/disgusted.

Bomb Bomb Iran on October 8, 2007 at 11:36 am

I’ll bet their cash registers come from here:
http://www.retalix.com/

Carl in Jerusalem on October 8, 2007 at 12:34 pm

I consider myself blessed that I live in a city where Israeli products can be found. You don’t have to be Jewish to love Kosher food. God bless Israel and the U.S.A.!

HelyeahWinnie on October 8, 2007 at 3:09 pm

Allan Gale reads like a total dhimmified eunuch. Is this mindless idiot the best the JCRC can offer?

lexi on October 8, 2007 at 5:39 pm

Will they be posting Judenrein in the window sometime, sort of like Organic and Pesticide Free, only with extra hate and genocide.

Jauhara Al-Kafirah on October 8, 2007 at 6:07 pm

Having grown up near the “People’s Republic of Ann Arbor” and having gone to school there, I’m not surprised by these libs hate filled rhetoric toward Israel. It’s always been fashionable to be on the left there. Maybe Ann Arbor will get a feeling for the Religion of Peace’s tolerance for free speech when Dearbornistan takes over the region!!

GreatUSAGuy on October 8, 2007 at 8:16 pm

I don’t see how the desire of some members of the People’s Food Co-op to ban products from Israel amounts to antisemitism. Yeah, ONE lady was carrying around a poster with a swastika on it, and she was roundly denounced by people on all sides of the debate, including those that support the boycott. (By the way, she was not promoting Nazi ideology. She was trying, albeit misguidedly, to draw a comparison between the actions of the German Nazis, and those of the Israeli state. Which, coincidentally, is exactly the kind of ridiculous characterizations that Debbie uses to attack anybody that dares to question the actions of Israel).
I love the rhetoric of the right. As soon as anyone questions the actions of Israel they scream: “ANTISEMITE!” “NAZI!” “BROWNSHIRT!” No debate is allowed when it comes to Israel. You’re either with Israel, and you back their every use of force 100%, or you’re a hateful fascist.
What does this have to do with Grandma’s Yellow Star, Debbie? What do the grocery stocking decisions of a tiny little grocery store in a small town in Michigan have to do with Kristallnacht?
As a member, and employee of the People’s Food Co-op, I actually support the idea that was put forth a few comments ago by Bill Petty. Instead of singling out Israel for a boycott, we should be focusing on buying domestically, or locally produced food.
[COOPEMPLOYEE: ANN ARBOR IS A “SMALL TOWN”? SINCE WHEN? IT’S ONE OF THE LARGEST CITIES IN MICHIGAN. ITS POPULATION IS GENERALLY LARGE DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR WITH THOUSANDS OF ADULTS WORKING AND GOING TO SCHOOL THERE. THE POPULATION IS OVER 100,000. THAT’S A “SMALL TOWN”? PUH-LEEZE. DS]

Coopemployee on October 8, 2007 at 8:48 pm

“if they really want to boycott Israel, they should put down all of their gadgets, all of their technology”…in particular, they should decline to take advantage of any biomedical technology originating in Israel, of which there is a lot.
I think it’s important to understand that leftists who oppose Israel generally do so not *in spite of* Israel’s scientific and economic achievements, but to a substantial extent *because of* these achievements.

photoncourier.blogspot.com on October 8, 2007 at 10:20 pm

Debbie, you are quibbling about a little bit of poetic license that I took in describing Ann Arbor as a town when your entire blog post is filled with seething, hate filled hyperbole, which is entirely unfounded.
Your charges of antisemitism are totally uninformed.
Ann Arbor is a city of a little over 100,000 people. That isn’t huge. And Ann Arbor is dwarfed by the metro-Detroit area, which is pretty much right down the street.
The coop membership is less than six percent of the city’s population. And the active membership is much smaller than that. Even if the boycott passes, which it most likely won’t, it will represent the voice of less than one percent of the city. How does that represent an imminent Kristallnacht?
This is a city that is very friendly to Jewish people. We have a number of Synagogues and Jewish cultural organizations. If Jewish people face any danger from organized hate groups in this area, it is probably coming from next door in Howell, which was the historical home of the right wing KKK in Michigan, not from the leftists in town.
The proposed boycott has nothing to do with the treatment of Jewish people in Ann Arbor, or the general attitudes that Ann Arborites have towards Jewish people. Israel is a state. Jews are a people. Most intelligent human beings are capable of understanding that there is a difference between the two.
[NOT QUIBBLING. POINTING OUT YOUR FALSE “FACTS.” ANN ARBOR IS NOT FRIENDLY TO JEWS. VERY HOSTILE, IN FACT. AND THERE HAVE BEEN MANY INSTANCES OF ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS WITH LITTLE PROSECUTION OR JUSTICE. THAT 6% OF A CITY IS VOTING ON WHETHER TO BAN PRODUCTS MADE BY JEWS (YOUR STORE WILL STILL TAKE PRODUCTS BY MUSLIM AND ARAB ISRAELIS–TELL THE TRUTH ON THIS), IS PRETTY STRONG EVIDENCE OF ANTI-SEMITISM. REMEMBER, THE NAZIS ONLY HAD 20% OF SUPPORT IN THE BEGINNING. SO YOU JUST NEED ANOTHER 14% TO CATCH UP. BETTER GET CRACKIN’. DS]

Coopemployee on October 8, 2007 at 11:40 pm

This is the wording of the referendum:
“Shall the People’s Food Co-op declare that its official policy will be to boycott all Israeli goods until the Palestinian people themselves call off the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign against Israel, as represented on the Campaign’s Web site, http://www.bds-palestine.net, to the maximum extent allowed by our legal and financial counsel? AND during such a boycott, Shall the People’s Food Co-op purchase no goods made, grown, or originated in Israel or in Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank, to the maximum extent allowed by our legal and financial counsel?”
It says “boycott all Israeli goods…” I don’t see any exceptions in there, do you? I think you’re just making up this exception for Muslims to make your argument look better.
The total membership of the Coop is around six thousand people. But most of them are not voting in the referendum, and a large percentage has either moved away, or no longer shops at the coop for whatever reason (some are probably deceased). The active membership base is much smaller than six thousand people. So even if the referendum actually did represent the views of the entire active membership of the coop, it would still be nowhere near six percent of the city’s population. And even then, you would have evidence of support of a boycott, not of antisemitism.
The Free Press article that YOU quoted stated that around 1,100 of the members have voted in the referendum (voting ended in September, by the way). That’s less than 1 percent of the city’s population, and nowhere near the six percent figure that you were bandying about above. And far less than 1,100 people voted FOR the passage of the referendum. The final tally hasn’t been released yet, but every member and employee that I have talked to has been against the boycott.
If the referendum was to pass with a simple majority of voters, that would represent less than six hundred votes. That would represent around half a percent of the Ann Arbor population voting for the referendum. And that still wouldn’t be evidence of antisemitism. Opposition to the government or policies of Israel does not in any way equate to antisemitism.
Give me some examples of antisemitic attacks against Jewish people in Ann Arbor. I’ve lived here my whole life and members of my family are active members of the Jewish community here. I’ve never heard about any kind of racially based criminal acts against Jews.
[ATTACK ON DANNY AGHION, JEWISH STUDENT OF EGYPTIAN EXTRACTION (HE WAS WEARING A YARMULKE). ATTACK ON RICKY DORFMAN, HEAD OF THE MICHIGAN STUDENT ZIONISTS AT THE TIME–WAS WEARING A PRO-ISRAEL T-SHIRT AT A BOWLING ALLEY. ATTACK ON VISITING JEWISH STUDENT FROM COLORADO B/C HE WAS WEARING A JEWISH STAR RING–NEEDED RECONSTRUCTIVE FACIAL SURGERY, HOSPITALIZED B/C OF RIBS BROKEN. ALL OF THESE ATTACKS WERE PERPETRATED BY MUSLIMS. LITTLE HAPPENED TO ANY OF THE PERPETRATORS. ONLY THOSE THAT ATTACKED DANNY AGHION–THEY CHASED HIM IN A CAR AND THREW GLASS BOTTLES AT HIM–WERE PROSECUTED BUT WERE NEVER FORCED TO DO THEIR COMMUNITY SERVICE SENTENCE. WAKE UP! DS]

Coopemployee on October 9, 2007 at 12:29 am

Oh yeah, these incidents are evidence that the Nazis are taking over.
By the way, how did Ricky’s lawsuit against the university go? Seems a little frivolous to sue the U of M for allowing pro-Palestinian activists to speak. Hope it got thrown out.

Coopemployee on October 9, 2007 at 1:19 am

I spent time at MSU in the early ’70s. The graduate dorm was infested with Arabs from the Middle East. Owen Hall was not safe for Jews at that time due to the fact that the massive number of Arab males would have “celebrations” where they would take over the cafeteria and scream and pump their arms in the air. They called each other “compatriots” and would make those uluations. (?) Imagine a hundred “rage boys” in a frenzy. Sounds like Ann Arbor of today will tolerate Jews if they are properly dhimmified. I can’t for the life of me understand why a Jew would choose to live in Michigan.

lexi on October 9, 2007 at 10:58 am

Hey Debbie–looks like you really touched a nerve with some Coop functionary.

lexi on October 9, 2007 at 11:01 am

Debbie, I’m a bit of a contrarian on this one. I hope the boycott passes and Israeli goods are banned. Then maybe the Jews and gentiles of good consciense will show some backbone and boycott the store. In the end the co-op Nazis will become the Islamic 7-11 they were destined to be.

Anonymous1 on October 9, 2007 at 11:58 am

“Opposition to the government or policies of Israel does not in any way equate to antisemitism.”
But they sure hang around together a lot. Why is *only* Israel singled out when so many other countries have much worse human rights records – especially Israel’s enemies which are mostly bloody, abominable human rights hellholes? I am sick and tired of hearing “anti-Israel doesn’t mean antisemitic” as if it couldn’t possibly be true. You are in serious denial if you think there is no relation between the two. They are in fact joined at the hip.

Gary Rosen on October 10, 2007 at 3:33 am

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