EASTHAMPTON — After months of emotional debate surrounding a proposed boycott of Israeli goods at River Valley Co-op, the results of an advisory poll among co-op members show overwhelming opposition to the “Apartheid-Free River Valley Co-op” initiative.

The co-op’s more than 16,000 member-owners were asked to participate in an advisory poll regarding the boycott petition, signed by over 1,000 community members, over 470 of which are member-owners.

The petition states that its goals are to “align the Co-op with our collective values” and work to end the ongoing conflict overseas by removing fiscal support through the de-deshelving of Israeli goods. However, many co-op members found the petition “unnecessarily divisive” and doubted the boycott’s ability to force change in the Middle East.

The 30-day advisory poll closed at 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 30, following a special meeting among 300-plus member-owners discussing perspectives on the topic. Co-op management did not allow press coverage of the meeting, with management calling it a private event among member-owners.

Of the 3,581 member-owners who participated in the advisory poll, 78% opposed the  boycott while 22% voted in favor of it, according to the results released Thursday afternoon.

“Even though we don’t  agree on the boycott, there is so much common ground and unity that we do all  want the violence to end, we do all want peace,” said Rochelle Prunty, general manager of River Valley Co-op.

The co-op had previously come out against the boycott, citing the fact that the goal of the co-op is to provide the community with choices of healthy foods, and that the co-op has never boycotted products from an entire country before. Prunty said previously that the goal of the advisory vote was to allow the co-op’s board of directors to understand the diversity of views on the topic, though they planned to keep Israeli products on the shelves, allowing customers to purchase them or boycott them as they see fit.

Following the results of the poll, Prunty said the co-op plans to stick with its plan of keeping Israeli products on the shelves.

“I think this opens up the opportunity for more nuanced conversations across the aisle about this,” said Easthampton City Councilor Owen Zaret, who has been vocal in the community about his opposition to the boycott. “What I hope comes out of this is some healing.”

State Sen. John Velis, who is now the chair of the state’s Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism, shared similar sentiments.

“I think this is an incredibly positive development,” said Velis. “I think that many of the movements like this that specifically target one group are cruel … some of the most complex issues in the world are dissolving into binary issues that are black and white.”

At the special membership meeting, member-owners for and against the boycott were given time to express their views on the topic. But Carolyn Oppenheimer, a member-owner who was in attendance, felt that the meeting was “over-controlled.”

Oppenheimer said that the co-op picked about 15 people in advance to speak at the meeting for both the “yes” and “no” vote perspectives, and that they were then given about a minute to express their views, alternating evenly between individuals who were for and against the boycott.

“They didn’t tell us that they were gonna pick people in advance to comment,” said Oppenheimer. “All of us went to this meeting thinking that we could make a comment.”

Oppenheimer also said it was “frustrating” that the people chosen to speak tended to be “extreme, very clearly for or against” the boycott, when many co-op members were hoping to discuss the implications of the boycott for the co-op community, rather than from a geopolitical perspective.

“Most of them used it as a platform for politics in the Middle East,” she said. “You can believe that Israel is committing a genocide and then ask if the co-op is the place to address it.”

Amy Mager, who was selected to speak at the meeting in opposition to the boycott, thought the meeting was conducted with “grace and empathy,” and was impressed by how co-op leadership handled the situation by “holding a space for really difficult conversations.”

“I’m just so thrilled that this was the response,” Mager said in reaction to the poll results. “With the numbers being so clear, it seems it will be easier to move on.”

However, co-op member-owners who voted in favor of the boycott are feeling less than optimistic.

Jeff Napolitano, who advocated for the boycott, said he was “disappointed” to hear the results of the advisory poll, but that he was not surprised since the co-op management had previously stated that they would likely keep Israeli products on the shelves regardless of the results.