City of Brotherly Love

JTA News
May 2005

City of brotherly love Members of a Philadelphia food cooperative overwhelmingly defeated a resolution to boycott Israeli products.

The resolution, brought Wednesday night, would have banned products grown or produced in Israel’s West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements, as well as all produce from Israel. More than 100 residents of West Mount Airy, a politically progressive, strongly Jewish section of Philadelphia, came out for the meeting. Despite a “high level of antipathy” in the community toward Israeli settlements, “it felt wrong to single out Israel,” said Steven Masters, a local resident who led opposition to the resolution.

The idea of a boycott suggests a commitment to Israel’s delegitimization and destruction, said Masters, a national leader in the left-wing group Brit Tzedek v’Shalom.