Training for NYPD Officers Categorized the Keffiyeh and Watermelon as Antisemitic Symbols

[Beastly Boy]

1. To say that

the keffiyeh or images of watermelon are symbols that DON'T “incite hatred, violence, or discrimination against Jewish individuals or communities.” is just as inaccurate as saying they do.

It's all in the context. To me, seeing a bunch of loud entitled keffiyeh-wearing Upper West Side hipsters holding up images of watermelons is just bizarre and, frankly, laughable. To a NYC cop, it is a red flag, not necessarily an antisemitic symbol outside of the protests, but calling for increased awareness of possible trouble to come. And there had been plenty of instances in which keffiyeh wearing demonstrators escalated otherwise permissible exercises of free speech into demonstrable by-the-book antisemitic incidents.

And there is nothing controversial about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. It is widely accepted as a go-to authoritative reference by just about everyone. With the possible exception of some far-right and far-left fringes, the editors of Jewish Currents apparently being among them.