(UPDATE IN EXTENDED ARTICLE) 4:23PM EST: Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) and New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson today denounced the Shnayder family, owners of the value import store, Net Cost Market, for stocking and selling dozens of packages of roasted sunflower seeds featuring a caricature of a greedy-and-sinister-looking Jew, complete with skullcap, on the label. The Cyrillic letters on the left of the label read, “Shalom, from Israel,” while the right side employs a slang phrase meaning “spit them out everywhere,” alluding to “dirty Jews.” The seeds are available in both 5.5 and 10.5 ounce bags. A survey conducted by Hikind’s office revealed that the seed bags are being sold in all four of Net Cost Market’s Brooklyn locations for a mere $0.99 to $1.99 per bag depending on size.
“I was absolutely appalled when I saw this label,” said an outraged Hikind. “Net Cost Market has become a complicit partner in the dissemination of hatred against Jews. With each bag sold, the Shnayders are literally sowing seeds of hate.” At three of the four locations, consumers who spent $50 or more were given the package of seeds as a promotional gift right at the checkout counter.
Net Cost Market bills itself as the “Costco of the ethnic Eastern European market,” and offers a wide assortment of imports from all over Eastern Europe. The roasted sunflower seeds are produced in the Former Soviet Union by Kremlin Kitchen. “I was not surprised to learn that this anti-Semitic product is being made in Russia,” said Hikind. “Recent reports indicate that attacks on Russia’s Jewish population and their property have increased in both number and severity. Kremlin Kitchen is trying to capitalize on this existing wave of anti-Semitic sentiment with the Russian-American community.”
Hikind and Thompson are calling for all remaining packages to be pulled from store shelves immediately, and for future supply orders to be discontinued. “Today we have come together to express a simple demand that the owners of the Net Cost Market chain immediately pull these offensive packages from their stores,” Comptroller Thompson said. “Such a blatant expression of hate encourages anti-Jewish feeling among New Yorkers, and tears at the fabric of our civil society. These packages must go.”
Hikind added, “This insidious depiction of a Jew is reminiscent of the propaganda distributed by Joseph Goebbels. It is an image intended to degrade the Jewish people, and to incite fear and loathing of Jews. It has absolutely no place in our communities.”
UPDATE 5:50PM EST: Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) just received word from Edward Shnayder of Net Cost Market that all packages of the roasted sunflower seeds featuring a caricature of a greedy-and-sinister-looking Jew, complete with skullcap, on the label are being pulled from the shelves in all four stores effectively immediately.
“While it is commendable that the Shnayder family acted quickly to remove these offensive packages, it is outrageous for them to contend that they had no knowledge of the products being sold in their store,” Hikind said. “It is incumbent upon the management to know every product which is purchased from their suppliers, stocked on their shelves, and sold to their consumers.”
(Eli Gefen – YWN Queens Ops’ Desk)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
11 Responses
Which hechsher (if any) is on the seeds?
Isn’t this packaging legal, due to “freedom of speech” issues?
Halocho b’yeduah she’esov soneh es yakov. Stamp out anti semitism in one corner, it’ll pop up in another. All we can do is keep stamping out. But it will never die out. Not until Moshiach comes.
Thank you Dov, who else but you would notice this..
SICKO, now the world can spit at the Jew and spit him out.
Did the package have a Hashgacha?
It was actually a colleague of mine that first brought this to the attention of Dov Hikind at my behest. He showed me the package and was appalled. He was prepared to do whatever it took to bring this into the light . If we don’t stop this kind of activity it won’t be long before we find ourselves in a the same position the Jews in Nazi Germany were in. We all must be outraged.
Why does he think that it means Dirty Jew? Its the nature of the animal. People who eat sun flower seeds DO spit them on the floor!
Ephraim, please pull your head out of the sand. It is very clear in the article that it meant to insult Jews.
And thank-you to Dov Hikind for getting the job done!
Thank u dov hikind.
The company importing this garbage is AHT International, based out of Brooklyn.
Feel free to call them at (718) 621-4000 to express your outrage that they would import such a disgraceful product.
By the way, I’ve seen the image and it is VERY similar to the old propoganda cartoons of WW2.
# 1 what does that have to do with hikind’s point?? it may be legal but it alludes to…
Thank you Dov Hikind for taking action. I have recently seen this pasted across the window of a local bodega in my neighborhood. How do I get it removed?