Members of a Brooklyn food co-op voted down a controversial motion Tuesday night that would have paved the way for a referendum on the boycott of Israeli-made goods, effectively ending three years of heated internal debate at a community institution usually more concerned with sharing organic recipes than divisive geopolitical issues. The vote at the 16,000-plus member-owned Park Slope Food Co-Op would have brought the co-op one step closer to participating in the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS. BDS supporters aim to help Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank by boycotting Israeli products and companies that do business with Israel. Those opposing the boycott defeated its supporters in a 1,005 to 653 vote. According to Joe Holtz, one of the organization’s founders, only a few Israeli products are sold at the co-op, including vegan marshmallows, pesto tapenade and Israeli couscous. Yet, the mere possibility of a boycott sparked extensive local media coverage and stoked tension amongst co-op members and New Yorkers on both sides of the issue. “We are saddened to announce that the Park Slope Food Co-op will not be holding a membership-wide referendum on whether to join the international BDS movement,” said a statement on the Web site of a group calling themselves the Park Slope Food Co-Op Members for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions. “However, despite our loss in tonight’s vote, we have succeeded in one of our goals. BDS has entered into the consciousness of thousands of co-op members and has even made it into mainstream conversations thanks to the huge amount of media coverage.” Peter Raskin, a retired teacher and member of the co-op for 35 years, described a sense of unease that pervaded the co-op in the lead-up to the vote due to the presence of BDS supporters demonstrating outside. He said that while the co-op has long been a place of camaraderie to work and talk food, “this has touched on people’s nerves. I was feeling afraid to tell people I was a co-op member.” Founded in 1973 by a small group of neighborhood residents, the co-op’s rules stipulate that members must work 2 hours and 45 minutes once every four weeks. But Raskin believes the forces behind the BDS movement at the co-op were largely external and, according to him, anti-Semitic. He said that when his wife went shopping recently someone came in from outside the co-op and put a sign over the matzo indicating that it was made in Israel. “It’s Passover season,” Raskin said. “Anyone buying matzo is Jewish, they know it’s made in Israel,” he said. Still, some at the co-op simply wanted to keep food and politics separate. “I think we should just not have an opinion, it’s just too contentious an issue for most people,” Dakkan Abby, a co-op member told CNN affiliate WABC. “It’s too emotional and divides what’s otherwise a pretty united community,” he said. The co-op’s vote even got some attention from Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” Tuesday night, with correspondent Samantha Bee quipping that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Park Slope Food Co-Op is perhaps the “one victim of this war that may be the most tragic of all.”

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Brooklyn food co-op votes down boycott of Israeli-made goods

A debate at the Park Slope Food Coop over whether to boycott products from Israel is dividing its members, and annoying some of them.

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At Park Slope Food Coop, a Debate and Indifference

“New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza” strides back into Theater J after its acclaimed 2010 run as an established hit, and the show’s success is no mystery. The David Ives script is fierce, funny and up-to-the-minute in its moral investigations. And the cast knocks it out of the park. Read full article > >

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‘New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch De Spinoza’ returns to Theater J

Six protesters were arrested in a pre-dawn raid on the Occupy D.C. encampment in McPherson Square Saturday, and police began clearing away tents, debris and some dead rodents. U.S. Park Police on horseback and on foot clad in riot gear swept into the park around 6 a.m. Several square blocks downtown were closed during the raid, which was characterized as “further enforcement” of a no-camping crackdown that began Monday . Read full article > >

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Occupy D.C. camp raided by police

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Terrell Stoglin scored 20 points, Sean Mosley had 15, and Maryland beat Wake Forest, 70-64 , Wednesday night for its first Atlantic Coast Conference victory under coach Mark Turgeon. Read full article > >

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Maryland vs. Wake Forest: Terrapins withstand second-half charge by Demon Deacons to win, 70-64

Hours after New York police raided Zuccotti Park in Tuesday morning’s wee hours, arresting 140 Occupiers, a 29-year old New York filmmaker stood by the park, protesting for her first time. “There are a lot of similarities between what is happening here, and the Arab spring,” said Cathy, who went by her first name only. “And the more force authorities use, the more people will gather.”

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Refocusing After The Police Raid Zuccotti Park

The police and the demonstrators have come to share responsibilities for patrolling the park and the surrounding area.

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At Occupy Wall Street Protest, Rising Concern About Crime

The donation, from the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, will boost the park’s endowment and help cover costs for its final segment.

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$20 Million Gift to High Line Park

Occupy DC is entering the third week and the protest, flush with cash donations and equipment, seems to be settling in at McPherson Square despite a cold front moving in to the region. To get a better perspective on what it’s like to be a protester in the park, the Buzz’s Katie Rogers and photographer Michael Williamson headed down to the square to spend the evening at the encampment. Follow along with Katie’s live tweets after the jump: Read full article > >

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Occupy DC: one night with the protesters (live updates #OccupyDC)

City officials put off the cleanup of the park on Friday morning shortly before it began, averting a feared showdown between the police and the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators.

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City Room: Cleanup of Zuccotti Park Is Postponed

NEW YORK — Protesters will have to clear out of the private Manhattan park where they’ve been camped out for nearly a month so the owners can clean it, but they’ll be allowed to return afterward, city officials said. Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said in a statement Wednesday that the protest has “created unsanitary conditions and considerable wear and tear on the park.” He said Brookfield Properties asked for police help to clear Zuccotti Park so it can be cleaned. Read full article > >

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City tells NY protesters they must leave park for cleaning but can return

It’s lunchtime in McPherson Square in downtown Washington, and a young couple who met at the ongoing Occupy D.C. protests are cuddling on an air mattress and talking about corporate greed. Kathy Elliso, 22, and Steve Hartwell, 23, have started dating, so to speak, in the 10 days since the Occupy D.C. demonstrators set up their tents and their “Tax the rich” placards in this park along the lawyer-and-lobbyist-dense K Street corridor. They are joining protests that have spread to cities around the country since the Occupy Wall Street movement began last month in New York . Read full article > >

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Occupy D.C. protest in McPherson Square: Woodstock meets Washington

For the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, the restoration of the Park Avenue Armory is a delicate process of excavation.

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Park Avenue Armory to Get Swiss Makeover

We at the Going Out Guide try our best to point you in the right direction with your free time, and once again we’ve assembled a list of our picks for the best events this weekend . And when we can, we try to facilitate great events for you. This weekend, at the Park at 14th, you can see rapper Common for free — gratis, on the house — by simply mentioning the Going Out Guide at the door. Read full article > >

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Plan your weekend: Common, Southwest D.C. Arts Festival

The National Park Service is going to start closing lanes on 17th Street between Constitution and Independence avenues. This is very near the other park service project, the reconstruction of western Constitution Avenue, that also is restricting lanes. To install the lane restrictions and signs for the 17th Street project, the park service plans to temporarily close 17th Street to all traffic in the work zone from 8 o’clock tonight through 4 a.m. Thursday. Then for about 60 days, both northbound lanes will be closed. The two southbound lanes will be converted so that there is one lane of traffic in each direction. The two-way traffic will be maintained at all times during the first project’s phase, the park service said. Read full article > >

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Lane closings to start on 17th St. at Mall