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Ban on Israeli Goods Has Shoppers in Uproar

(San Francisco Chronicle) Jenny Strasburg - Israeli-Palestinian tensions have found their way into the aisles of a neighborhood supermarket in a city with a reputation for tolerance and diversity. Rainbow Grocery's ban on carrying certain Israeli-made goods, adopted through a vote of workers empathetic to Palestinians, has angered some customers and prompted the Jewish Community Relations Council in San Francisco to demand that the Mission District co-op reverse its boycott immediately. The worker-owned store is losing business over its decision to remove Israeli products from two of its largest departments, a Rainbow spokesman said. About 100 people called the store with reactions Wednesday, mostly to disagree with Rainbow's partial boycott, said spokesman Scott Bradley. "Ninety-nine percent of it is people calling up and being very polite and saying they're not going to shop here anymore," Bradley said. "Rainbow is a store that I hold in great esteem, because I share those cooperative values," said San Francisco resident Michael Disend, a longtime Rainbow customer, who also said Rainbow's selective boycott of Israeli products smacks of anti- Semitism. He urged a boycott of the store and a picket line in front of the entrance if Israeli products aren't restocked. "I would be one of the very first people out there," Disend said.
2002-12-06 00:00:00
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