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Friday February 9, 2007

Jews bewildered by anti-Israel activists’ poisoning accusations

by joe eskenazi
staff writer

During the days of the Black Death, when the idea of malady caused by microbes carried by rats’ fleas was beyond comprehension, medieval peasants fell upon another culprit: Jews must have poisoned the well.

Roughly 700 years later the accusation unexpectedly reared its ugly head here in San Francisco. Anti-Israel activists, frustrated that progressive cooperative Rainbow Grocery wouldn’t take them up on their cries to boycott Israeli goods, recently released an open letter pondering if the store refused their entreaties because of Israel supporters’ threats to poison the bulk bins.

The accusation, which Rainbow employees claim is completely unsubstantiated, left Jews and others flabbergasted.

The letter from a group calling itself Boycott Israeli Goods, carried more than 50 signatures and made its rounds on the Internet. A snippet said, “We have heard that when Rainbow discussed a boycott in 2003, the opposition threatened to poison the bulk bins. Is this what Rainbow is afraid of? That those anti-boycott forces will commit acts of terrorism against them if they boycott? Among us are Jewish people and we abhor such terror tactics reminiscent of the Zionist Irgun/Stern Gang in Israel, which used violence, blackmail and extortion to get its way.”

Wolfgang Hagar, a member of Rainbow’s board, said there was “word going around” four years ago that a poisoning threat had been phoned in.

Hagar said the workers “took it seriously” but “we looked into it and couldn’t find any evidence of it happening.”

Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council, was taken aback by the poisoning accusation, and felt its unseemliness reflected the incompetence of the letter-writers.

“The accusation is outrageous and speaks for itself in terms of how offensive it is,” he said. “It’s an appalling accusation and it brings instant discredit to the letter.”

Four years ago, the heads of two of Rainbow’s departments decided on their own to enact a boycott of Israeli goods. The boycott was reversed after heavy pressure from the Jewish community and negative coverage in the mainstream media. A subsequent boycott attempt was voted down heavily by the cooperative’s workers.

Since the furor over the Israeli boycott in 2003, Rainbow introduced bylaws requiring a storewide vote to enact a boycott, as it reminded the general public in a rebuttal to Boycott Israeli Goods (BIG).

“To say that Rainbow Grocery is refusing to respond or ‘stonewalling’ is inaccurate and unfair. The worker-owners make decisions at Rainbow Grocery democratically, and with an opportunity for discussion and debate. As of now, none of Rainbow’s worker-owners has brought the issue [of an Israeli boycott] to a vote,” read Rainbow’s statement, which was posted on the store’s Web site last week.

One of the signers of the BIG letter was Barbara Lubin, director of the Middle East Children’s Alliance and a Jew. She claimed she did not realize the poisoning accusation was part of the letter until after she signed it. “If that’s not true, then it’s wrong to have it in there. It’s outrageous,” she said.

Yet she did not regret signing the letter.

“I really feel too much time is being spent on conversations like this [about what’s anti-Semitic and what isn’t] instead of what’s going on over there [in Israel] and what we can do about it. I do support Rainbow Grocery and I do support a boycott of Israeli products.”

Kahn, meanwhile, said Rainbow acted properly and sees no reason for Israel supporters to avoid the store.

“I urge people to convey to [Rainbow] workers that one of the reasons they feel comfortable shopping there is that there is no boycott,” he said.

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