Threatened Violence in Supermarket Owner Family Member’s Forum Spurs Call to Boycott Ravitz Family Markets

Jason Ravitz is identified as the Deputy Mayor at the Voorhees Township website and is also connected to Ravitz Markets that operates five area ShopRite locations.

His interest and support for Israel of late has motivated him apparently to take actions challenging local Palestine solidarity activists who protest locally regularly in Collingswood and Mount Laurel.

Mr. Ravitz has used his social media to depict and ridicule community members including high school students and he has called upon a local school district to take action under a depiction that he alleges shows Cherry Hill High School students.  

Furthermore, Mr. Ravitz has maintained a forum underneath these pictures that includes threats of violence – in one case actually suggesting that a protester should be killed and another comment suggesting that the same protester needs a beating.  The specific statements made in Ravitz’s forum:  “He needs a beating” and “He just thinks that if he holds up that sign, maybe he won’t be killed. He’s wrong.” 

Does Ravitz Markets want its customer base to believe that it welcomes members of all communities?  A key member of the family calls for infringement of protected free speech rights of Cherry Hill High School student and provides a forum for his apparent supporters to call for violence against community members using their protected free speech to call for an end to US supported genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.  

It would seem that Mr. Ravitz is putting his pro-Israel agenda ahead of what one might think is a more prudent role for a business that depends on a customer base feeling warm and welcomed into their establishments.  Hosting calls for violence, calling for discipline against high school students and ridiculing protesters for a high level manager and Ravitz family member are inconsistent with good business practices.

Can food shoppers coming to Ravitz Markets operated Shop Rites feel safe in those stores if they disagree with the staunch pro-Israel positions of Mr. Ravitz?

Now a local group of community members are responding and they have called for a boycott of Ravitz Markets.  They have issued the following call to action:

“We are asking those who support Palestine to boycott Ravitz family Shop Rite locations. These locations consist of ShopRite of Garden State Pavilions (2240 West Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill), ShopRite of Marlton (307 West Route 70, Marlton), ShopRite of Union Mill Road (892 Union Mill Road, Mount Laurel), ShopRite of Mount Laurel (1000 Nixon Drive, Mount Laurel), ShopRite of Evesham Road (400 East Evesham Road, Cherry Hill), and the Price Rite in Camden (2881 Mount Ephraim Avenue, Camden, NJ.)”

FightBackBetter calls upon the Ravitz establishment to clarify to the community if potential customers who disagree with Mr. Ravitz are welcome in their stores and if the management of the stores agrees with the calls to violence against people expressing protected free speech on the issue of the Palestinian cause.  NJ is second to New York state in the concentration of Muslims in the overall population and there is a propensity among Muslims to be unfavorable toward Israel’s genocide policies: Do the Ravitz’s prefer that Muslims and others who oppose Israel policies shop elsewhere?

FightBackBetter is looking for more details and will update.