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Buried deep in the wardrobe from a time long ago is a shemagh, an Arab scarf also known as a keffiyeh. The tasseled, checkered headgear made famous by Yasser Arafat became an almost mainstream fashion accessory in the mid-2000s, favoured by urban hipsters who liked its hint of mild rebellion.
During the Black Summer fires, it was a useful piece of kit. It kept the sun off my neck, the smoke out of my throat, and wiped from my brow the sweat generated by the hot protective yellow suit and helmet the media were required to wear on the fireground.
Now, wearing one in public will mark you as falling on one side in the Israel-Hamas conflict. And it might even get you cancelled.
When young Sydney Theatre Company cast members wore them during a curtain call to show their solidarity with the people of Palestine as Gaza was bombed to rubble, the reaction from the Jewish community was instant and visceral. Donors pulled funds. Board members resigned. A performance was cancelled.
The keffiyeh became touchpaper. What also exploded during the ongoing ruckus was the sense one could not safely voice discomfort at the way the conflict in Gaza has unfolded without being branded a supporter of Hamas. Lost in the noise was the fact the keffiyeh worn by actors Harry Greenwood, Mabel Li and Megan Wilding is not the green headband worn by the organisation that unleashed the unspeakable October 7 horror in Israel. Yet somehow it's been equated as such.
Jewish Australian director of the Adelaide Writers Festival Louise Adler last week courageously called out the reaction to the STC controversy, saying it was a "tragedy" that wishes for peace and justice in the Middle East were being silenced. "There is a long and honourable and important tradition of artists being engaged in the world that they inhabit. Art that is not made of this world, that doesn't take into account this world, feels to me rather vacuous," she told 7.30's Laura Tingle. We should not look away, Adler said.
The danger lies in the almost constant conflation of any opinion on the conflict into either anti-Semitism if Israel's actions are criticised, or pro-Zionist if they're not criticised enough. This bitter polarity ensures voices of reason - voices for peace - are stifled. And it encourages those who occupy the middle ground to do exactly what Adler says we shouldn't. To look away.
And ironically the keffiyeh backlash from the Jewish community has prompted a call to artists and creatives across the country to all wear the scarf today as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
My keffiyeh, however, will remain hidden in the depths of my wardrobe. Politicised and too polarising now, the simple and practical garment will only inflame tensions at a time when calm resolve to end the conflict is needed.
It will only come out in the unlikely event of a peace rally in which keffiyehs and kippot (Jewish skull caps) are seen together, their wearers united in a common cause - to put an end to the bloodshed and strive towards a permanent solution.
HAVE YOUR SAY: What will it take to secure an enduring peace in the Middle East? Are you beginning to look away from the conflict because the opposing viewpoints seem so intractable? Should performers be free to express their opinions on the conflict? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- The ABC has scrapped weeknight panel show The Drum among changes to its news channel. Fewer than five positions will be made redundant according to the ABC, as it moves to focus the ABC NEWS Channel to "continuous news, breaking news and news video production".
- A judge has ordered Prince Harry to pay the legal fees of the publisher of The Mail on Sunday tabloid for his failed court challenge in a libel lawsuit. The Duke of Sussex is suing Associated Newspapers Ltd over an article that said Harry tried to hide his efforts to retain publicly funded protection in the United Kingdom after leaving his role as a working member of the royal family.
- China has lifted suspensions off three Australian abattoirs, in a further easing of punitive trade sanctions imposed on the nation's exports. China's Customs agency announced the removal of the bans on Teys Australia Naracoorte in South Australia, Australian Lamb in Colac, Victoria and JBS in Melbourne.
THEY SAID IT: "The truth about Hamas and Islamic Jihad is that they don't prevent Israel from existing or even flourishing, they prevent Palestine from coming into existence." - Michael Medved
YOU SAID IT: King Charles embraces homeopathy and natural remedies.
"Many years ago, my father suffered a back injury," writes Bob. "After countless GP and specialist visits, the experts advised that vertebrae in his spine would have to be fused. He declined to go down that path. I took him to a combined homeopath/osteopath/iridologist/chiropractor who, without any prompting, was able to list Dad's complete medical history using his iridology skills. He then proceeded to utilise his chiropractic skills, and Dad was able to walk away unaided. Western medicine doesn't have all the answers; alternative medicine sometime works."
Brian writes: "Many years ago I suffered from a plantar wart on the sole of my foot which after much pain and suffering had to be cut out, inducing more pain and suffering while it healed. Six months later I discovered warts on my knee! The girl next door she said her mother knew a remedy and it was to rub the white juice from a dandelion on them. So we all trooped over to the local park to find dandelion and my mates and she took great delight in smearing dandelion juice over my full leg. Needless to say the warts disappeared and have never been seen since!"
"Homeopathy is up against a formidable system," writes Viktoria. "If a treatment hasn't been double-blind tested multiple times with thousands of participants, written in English, published in a select group of medical professional papers and peer reviewed, it has no chance of being accepted as an approved therapy or drug."
Sue writes: "If King Charles is talking to trees, he is in appropriate company. Didn't one of the Georges do the same? Re homeopathy, as a teenager I had a plantar wart. Very painful. The medical profession had no solution, but one of my cousins managed a chicken farm and gave my mother some of the solution used to seal the eggs. A little painted over the wart morning and night for a week and it was gone. What is the difference between homeopathy and old wives' tales? Many don't make much difference, some do, but which is which - and did I spell that correctly?"