Pearls and Irritations

Over 4000 people have signed a petition in three days, calling for an apology for a student who was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald to have been banned from attending his Year 12 formal for wearing a keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf) at his graduation. The student is from a Palestinian background, and the scarf is traditionally worn at significant events such as graduations.

The keffiyeh has been worn at many school graduations in previous years, without incident – including at the students own school Condell Park High School. But since Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Palestinian identity, if publicly expressed, is being treated as a threat by the NSW Education Department.

Arrest warrants have now been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity” and using “starvation as a method of warfare”. Australia has yet to sanction either of them, but Australian authorities are sanctioning Australian students of Palestinian background, simply for expressing their cultural heritage.

It should be unthinkable to ask a Jewish student to remove their kippah at a graduation, so why is anti-Palestinian discrimination acceptable? How has the NSW Education Department come to tie itself in knots over this issue?

It is not simply a question of decision making at Condell Park High School. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the NSW Education Department backed the school’s decision, paying lawyers to prevent the student from attending his formal.

The sanctioning of the student flows from the document “Supporting the school community during the current conflict in the Middle East” that initially required schools to be neutral on genocide.

The document comes from the NSW state Labor government, who have consistently supported Israel, claiming its actions in Gaza are “self-defence” and allowing NSW weapons companies like Quickstep and Bisalloy to continue to supply weapons parts to Israel. They also allow weapons companies that supply Israel, to run or sponsor third party STEM programs for school students.

For the NSW Labor government the horror in Gaza is an inconvenient truth, so they clamp down on any discussion, or visible reminder, of it. They want to prevent political support for Palestine growing. Suppressing cultural expressions, and Palestinian identity itself, are part of this process.

The Education Department document on “conflict in the Middle East” has been quietly updated recently to remove the word “neutral”, but there has been no public announcement of the change. Another change adding “Ensure the school’s response to students’ expression of cultural identity and connections to other countries is culturally responsive” is still not reflected in the department’s own behaviour. The document also now requires teachers to run anything about “controversial issues” past principals first, but who defines what is a controversial issue? Is there a list?

This is not a one off incident. On “Harmony Day”, which traditionally sees displays of cultural clothing in schools, students were barred at over 10 schools from displaying the Palestinian flag, wearing Palestinian colours, or wearing the keffiyeh.

The Australian National Imams’ Council has reported “A Year 6 student was repeatedly instructed to remove a sweatband featuring the colours of the Palestinian flag, and was threatened with removal from the school athletics carnival if she refused to comply.” Also that “A staff member at a public high school in Sydney faced months of repeated racial discrimination, harassment and bullying by senior officers from the NSW Department of education. This was for wearing a keffiyeh. to school which the department deemed a “controversial issue” despite recognising it as cultural representation.”

Members of the Australian Palestinian Community including teachers and students, have been asked to conceal their Palestinian identity and heritage in NSW Public Schools over the last 14 months. This is despite the department’s own words about needing to ensure a schools response to “expression of cultural identity… is culturally responsive.”

Teachers have been told that the keffiyeh makes some students and staff feel “unsafe”. The unstated assumption is that it makes Jewish people feel unsafe, but the keffiyeh is either displayed as cultural heritage, or as support for Palestinian human rights. It is not directed against Jewish people. Many Jewish people themselves wear keffiyeh.

It is possible that the keffiyeh makes supporters of Israel’s genocide in Gaza uncomfortable, but schools shouldn’t pander to that. Schools displaying the Aboriginal flag, or giving an acknowledgement of country may make some racists uncomfortable, but schools don’t buckle to racism in those cases.

Teachers and School Staff for Palestine, and over 4000 others who have signed our petition are calling on Prue Car the NSW Education Minister to publicly apologise to the student concerned, allow him to attend the Year 12 formal and to stop the suppression of keffiyeh, or Palestinian imagery, in NSW schools, so that such discrimination is not repeated.

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