A community garden in Ridgewood, Queens, has morphed into a group of pro-Palestinian green thumbs who grow “Poppies for Palestine” and host “Free Palestine” poster making events.
Sara Schraeter-Mowers told The Post she can’t remember the last time she felt welcome in her own neighborhood, where she’s lived for 18 years.
She blamed the Sunset Community Garden, in part, for “creating an environment” in Ridgewood “that’s very hostile towards me and my family.”
Jewish Ridgewood residents are now afraid to go dig in the dirt at the garden, said Schraeter-Mowers, a teacher whose cousin was killed at the Nova Festival massacre on Oct. 7.
Schraeter-Mowers said she was profoundly offended by a July 28 post to the garden’s Instagram page, showing a painting that had been created during the “Free Palestine” arts and crafts event.
The painting featured the words “From the River to the Sea,” an anti-Semitic phrase calling for the destruction of Israel.
“They’re hosting events specifically designed to promote hatred toward Jewish people,” Schraeter-Mowers said.
“They don’t care that they’re alienating certain members of the community, even while putting on the mask of being inclusive.”
“I’d be safer in my home country [of Israel] than I am here,” Schraeter-Mowers added.
“I basically feel like we’re not allowed to be part of the community. I understand they’re trying to ensure people aren’t being discriminated against, but in doing so, they’re discriminating against an entire population in your community.”
Steph Herold’s Instagram post accused the garden’s heads of pushing “out every Jew in the neighborhood who doesn’t conform to your narrow view of acceptable political opinion on Israel.”
In June, the group’s “community agreements” were first posted to the social media platform, and later updated in August.
They’re essentially 10 separate, brevity-challenged pledges all prospective members must make prior to joining the community garden.
In June, the group’s “community agreements” were first posted to the social media platform, and later updated in August.
One agreement required members to express “solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized people in our own neighborhood and across the globe, especially Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Hawaii,” and Puerto Rico, “as well as with the land and water protectors globally. Active genocides, ecocide, the rise in climate disaster and refugees, victims of class warfare, and others are a direct cause for action in our collective liberation against human rights and environmental justice violations.”
Coincidentally, another required a commitment from members to interrupt “violent behavior or rhetoric that expresses all forms of hate (such as homophobic, transphobic, sexist, ableist, fatphobic, xenophobic, Zionist, anti-Semitic, nationalist and or racist beliefs) in order to preserve a safer space built on trust, respect, and self-awareness. This is not the space to shame or bully anyone based on identities or appearances.”
Statements supporting the Palestinians are also plentiful on the garden’s Instagram page.
Another of the mandates stated “we center and celebrate our queer, trans, disabled, chronically ill, femme, poor, immigrant, refugee, fat bodies, and richly melanated community.”
The garden also called on members to commit to using “people’s correct pronouns” and asking “if we are unsure.”
Located at Onderdonk and Willoughby Avenues, the Sunset Community Garden was built by the city Parks Department and GrowNYC with public funds, on part of an athletic field owned by the city Department of Education.
Christina Wilkinson led efforts to secure public funding for the garden, but left soon after it opened in June 2023.