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(JTA) — When the social media watchdog group StopAntisemitism this week posted a photograph of Jennifer Garner’s daughter, it known as consideration to her sweater, which confirmed a watermelon lower into the form of a map.
The group took offense on the map — meant to show the form of Palestine — saying that it “erases the whole nation of Israel,” envisioning a Palestinian state within the territory that now encompasses Israel, the West Financial institution and Gaza.
StopAntisemitism was mocked by many customers for elevating alarm over an image of fruit. However the sweater featured one in all many graphics which have established watermelons as a logo of Palestinian nationalism that dates again a long time and has seen a resurgence throughout Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
Watermelons are linked with Palestinian activism as a result of their colours — crimson, black, white and inexperienced — match the colours of the Palestinian flag. That image grew to become widespread through the a long time when Israel banned the waving of the Palestinian flag in Gaza and the West Financial institution. In lieu of the banner, Palestinians would use photos of watermelons “as a metaphor for the Palestinian flag and to avoid the ban,” distinguished Palestinian artist Khaled Hourani, who was in his 20s when the primary intifada started in 1987, advised the Washington Put up in 2021.
“The watermelon, which was a typical crop within the area, grew to become a logo of political opposition,” reads a latest weblog publish from Beeri Printing Press, a prestigious Israeli imprint situated on Kibbutz Beeri, the positioning of a bloodbath by Hamas on Oct. 7. “And so, rather than Palestinian flags, in Gaza and the [West] Financial institution they drew graffiti and made the watermelon an inventive expression. The place there have been no flags, there can be watermelons.”
Within the Eighties, Sliman Mansour, a Palestinian artist, reportedly had an exhibition shut down by the Israeli army as a result of the works featured the colours of the Palestinian flag. Mansour has recalled in subsequent years that the officer advised him even an image of a watermelon can be unlawful. In line with the New York Occasions, Mansour included a portray of a watermelon in a 1987 e book of Palestinian people tales.
Israel allowed the show of the Palestinian flag after the Oslo peace accords in 1993, and contentions over their show receded. However the image skilled a revival earlier final yr, earlier than the conflict broke out, when Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far proper minister of nationwide safety, tried to ban public shows of the Palestinian flag because the nation was being convulsed with protests towards far-reaching judicial reforms proposed by the federal government.
In June, the Israeli activist group Zazim purchased advertisements on shared taxis in Tel Aviv that displayed a watermelon alongside the textual content “This isn’t a Palestinian flag.”
Watermelon depictions have proliferated for the reason that outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct. 7, and the watermelon emoji has turn into a signifier of pro-Palestinian sympathies on social media over the past three months. The image has in flip sparked controversy for its offensive which means in one other context.
The New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America used it on a poster to name out the pro-Israel place of U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the New York Democrat who’s the minority chief within the U.S. Home of Representatives.
“Hakeem Jeffries’ constituents demand ceasefire now!” stated the poster, with an outline of an enormous watermelon slice, calling for a Nov. 17 rally.
That backfired: The fruit is seen as a bigoted reference to Black Individuals, one thing Jeffries’ spokesman seized upon.
“The watermelon has lengthy been deployed as a dehumanizing racist trope by white supremacists in America,” Andy Eicher advised the New York Put up. “In reference to the deliberate rally concentrating on our district workplace, the usage of racially inflammatory imagery ought to come as no shock given the function NYC-DSA and different gentrifiers have performed in aggressively attacking Black elected officers.”
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