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Supermarket staff wearing a keffiyeh

502 replies

Alpaccas · 07/03/2025 22:35

I saw a member of staff wearing a keffiyeh today in Sainsbury’s. Do you think it’s a bit too political for a member of staff to be wearing, whilst wearing their work uniform?

OP posts:
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6
28Fluctuations · 08/03/2025 11:02

HardenYourHeart · 08/03/2025 11:00

I didn't know what a keffiyeh was and had to look it up. So it's basically a shawl. Since when is wearing a shawl controversial?

🙄

EternalSunshine19 · 08/03/2025 11:03

Alpaccas · 07/03/2025 22:39

It was clearly not cultural. It was political in this case.

How do you know? Unless you had a chat with the person discussing her culture you have no way of knowing.

MiserableMrsMopp · 08/03/2025 11:03

28Fluctuations · 08/03/2025 11:00

Showing support for the slaughter of Jewish civilians. Wow.

See how contentious the issue is?

I want my Jewish colleagues to feel as safe and valued as all others. Thus, I would not want to take a side. At work.

You know notging of my views on tye matter. Cuz I haven't said.

Not at all supporting support of ANY slaughter.

Israel needs to stay in its own confines. Stop land grab. THEN maybe they could claim victimisation. Currently? Not at all.

Any country stealing land, colonising and murdering the inhabitants of that land HAVE to expect retaliation.

28Fluctuations · 08/03/2025 11:07

MiserableMrsMopp · 08/03/2025 11:03

Not at all supporting support of ANY slaughter.

Israel needs to stay in its own confines. Stop land grab. THEN maybe they could claim victimisation. Currently? Not at all.

Any country stealing land, colonising and murdering the inhabitants of that land HAVE to expect retaliation.

Edited

I suspect you've lost sight of the topic under discussion. We're not litigating the Israel/Palestine conflict.

ThriveAT · 08/03/2025 11:08

OuterSpaceCadet · 08/03/2025 10:29

Mine were a gift a long time ago from someone with connections to Palestine.

Sure they can be read as support for Palestine, but FFS that does not mean supporting Hamas or hating Jewish people. I know Jewish people who wear a keffiyeh sometimes.

Thank you

EasternStandard · 08/03/2025 11:12

Everyone is on the same page and it was sent by our union for displaying in the staffroom

What if someone feels uncomfortable with this?

RubyTuesday48 · 08/03/2025 11:16

MiserableMrsMopp · 08/03/2025 11:02

My point is, that they are representative of that religion. Which is associated with Israel.

I have zero issues with anyone wearing them. I'm not anti semitic. It's 100% personal choice. As it is with the keffiyah. Live and let live.

No you are missing the point. The keffiyah, unlike Jewish symbols, is not a religious one.

HardenYourHeart · 08/03/2025 11:18

28Fluctuations · 08/03/2025 11:02

🙄

🙄

Martymcfly24 · 08/03/2025 11:19

EasternStandard · 08/03/2025 11:12

Everyone is on the same page and it was sent by our union for displaying in the staffroom

What if someone feels uncomfortable with this?

The poster lists companies to boycott if you wish like lots of people here would boycott the supermarket the worker from the op was in. It is a choice and does not mention anything hateful towards Jewish or Israeli people.
The union has a strong pro Palestine stance going back decades having recently held a conference about the issue and having a strong committee about it . Not surprising for a teaching union to be so concerned about a country where children have been denied an education for 18 months and thousands have been murdered and maimed.

To answer your original question I don't know. I would presume it would be an issue for an individual school to discuss . Personally and professionally I don't know anyone who is against the massacre of Palestinians so it is not one we have had to navigate.

JustSawJohnny · 08/03/2025 11:21

Where is the harm, would be my argument.

It's a scarf. Even if worn politically, it's a very 'teenage' thing to do.

Lots of the fashion/imagery of my youth was political in nature. The entire punk movement was a visual fuck you to government. The vegetarian Docs I wore in the 90's were a statement that 100% occurred as a results of being a Smiths fan.

It's good for kids to question the world and make a political stance. I doubt very much this person will still be doing it when they're 30.

As an aside, pretty much all of the kids were wearing kaffiyeh when I first started teaching. They just copied each other and called them 'scarves'.

28Fluctuations · 08/03/2025 11:21

Martymcfly24 · 08/03/2025 10:58

Neither.

Everyone is on the same page and it was sent by our union for displaying in the staffroom

We can pretty much guarantee not everyone is on board. Because it's a hugely divisive issue. Even 8f you are totally convinced you're on the right side of history, morally justified, etc.

It's kinda worrying that you think a lack of backchat = everyone agrees with me.

EasternStandard · 08/03/2025 11:21

@Martymcfly24 your assurance that no one would feel differently makes Sainsbury's approach, which likely wouldn't allow the scarf, more sensible.

Work places are for everyone to feel comfortable.

MiserableMrsMopp · 08/03/2025 11:23

RubyTuesday48 · 08/03/2025 11:16

No you are missing the point. The keffiyah, unlike Jewish symbols, is not a religious one.

I'm not missing the point. MY point is that it is FREEDOM of expression to wear what we want.

Hijab
Keffiyah
Yahmulke
BLM badge
Peace symbol

No one gets to police what another person wears (or shouldn't try to).

Martymcfly24 · 08/03/2025 11:23

28Fluctuations · 08/03/2025 11:21

We can pretty much guarantee not everyone is on board. Because it's a hugely divisive issue. Even 8f you are totally convinced you're on the right side of history, morally justified, etc.

It's kinda worrying that you think a lack of backchat = everyone agrees with me.

There's 8 of us working in a rural Catholic Irish school.
It's not an issue in my school.

RubyTuesday48 · 08/03/2025 11:25

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

FKAT · 08/03/2025 11:25

MiserableMrsMopp · 08/03/2025 11:23

I'm not missing the point. MY point is that it is FREEDOM of expression to wear what we want.

Hijab
Keffiyah
Yahmulke
BLM badge
Peace symbol

No one gets to police what another person wears (or shouldn't try to).

Exactly and that's why I'm wearing a thong and pasties to the school Eid celebration.

tinytemper66 · 08/03/2025 11:26

I think you need to get a life.

PlayingDevilsAdvocateisinteresting · 08/03/2025 11:27

Greywhippet · 08/03/2025 09:26

So some Muslim men are like some other men of all faiths and nationalities then. Hating and oppressing women is sadly something that many men do. Pretending that is unique to Muslim men is just silly

Well thank you @Greywhippet for just calling me "silly", my broad shoulders can easily take that almost non insult, as it is very mild for some Mumsnetters!

I absolutely agree with you that probably nearly every Nation in the world, has in the past, and still does now, produce some - and even one man is far too many - men who go against the morals and laws of their societies. By the way, I never used the term "unique" in my previous post, especially as I think that very few people or things are actually unique.

However, and this is where I disagree with you - but I have no intention of looking up statistics at this time to prove my case, so if you wish to look up the statistics that prove me wrong, please do so - in my opinion, and no, it is not based on stories from the Daily Mail, since whenever vast members of the Muslim communities became well established here, in the UK, the sexual crimes against women and children which have been undertaken by gangs of men, have almost exclusively been committed by Muslim men. There are other Northern European countries where the same type of crimes are being increasingly reported. The sexual crimes against females in far Eastern countries, like India, that also suffer from these awful, and cowardly crimes, are again often carried out by Muslim men.

So, if I am being silly, and misinformed by many news agencies around the Western world, then I will be very happy to apologise to the Muslim communities that I have wronged. I feel the need to add that I personally know some absolutely lovely Muslim men, and that they love and hold their wives and daughters in the highest regard.

EasternStandard · 08/03/2025 11:29

@MiserableMrsMopp but the workplace can have uniform guidelines

If you get it wrong it seems they can send you home with no pay to change. Although in this case just take it off.

Sunnydays25 · 08/03/2025 11:32

Lots of disingenuous replies saying it's cultural, or it's Ramadam - of course it's explicit support for Palestine, a state at war, and it's not appropriate for one to be worn at work.

Of course anyone has the right to wear it outside of work, but not in the workplace, anymore than someone should wear a badge saying 'Crimea is Russian', or 'death to the oligarchs' - it's not about the 'side' the person is on, it's inappropriate to assert alignment in the workplace by wearing symbols. Could create very hostile working environments

marmaladeandpeanutbutter · 08/03/2025 11:55

A form of dress is not a badge or a slogan, except to an angry racist.

YourAmplePlumPoster · 08/03/2025 12:01

Sad isn't it? Now most of the ghouls once worshipped by lefties have disappeared, died or given up - Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Mao, Baader Meinhof, the Red Brigades, ETA, IRA, along with the Communist regimes they supported - their only hope is Hamas.

BlueberryPancakes17 · 08/03/2025 12:06

Would you say the same about a kippah?

MiserableMrsMopp · 08/03/2025 12:08

marmaladeandpeanutbutter · 08/03/2025 11:55

A form of dress is not a badge or a slogan, except to an angry racist.

🙌🙌🙌

EasternStandard · 08/03/2025 12:10

marmaladeandpeanutbutter · 08/03/2025 11:55

A form of dress is not a badge or a slogan, except to an angry racist.

Sainsbury's isn't that though. It's just a place of work where people have different views and need to wear the uniform as asked.

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