The Media Accountability Project  

"Palestine is even more necessary is not only outrageous, but it reinforces the lack of consideration of the 75-year-old grievances that Palestinians and allies have been voicing even before October 7 by wearing the keffiyeh in the Ontario legislature."

"I highly doubt that most Jewish people see the keffiyeh as the modern swastika since some of them wear it to send a clear message of their refusal to let genocide happen again. To claim that they see it as the modern swastika is not only anti-Palestinian racism, but it is a form of antisemitism."

On April 26, 2024, CJPME sent a letter to CityNews Toronto, pushing the media outlet to make changes regarding an article about MPP Sarah Jama being asked to leave the Ontario legislature for defying the keffiyeh ban.

CJPME wrote that the article did not provide an adequate description of the keffiyeh’s historical and cultural significance for Palestinians among other things.

CJPME took an issue with one sentence, among others, of CityNews describing the keffiyeh as “a black and white checkered scarf.” CJPME argued that “checkered scarf” and “Black-and-white scarves” are terms extensively used in racist contexts on social media, such as Twitter (formerly X). CJPME also suggested and included an accurate description of the keffiyeh.

CJPME, among other things, asked CityNews to update the “black and white checkered scarf” to simply “keffiyeh,” as it can be deeply offensive to Palestinians and their allies to use reductive terms to allude to the keffiyeh.

Following our letter, CityNews changed the words “black and white checkered scarf” to “keffiyeh” as requested.

While other issues were not acknowledged by CityNews, such as referring to the keffiyeh as “the scarf” and “cultural cloth,” it is encouraging that CityNews will change the most problematic reference to the keffiyeh to the suggested edit. It can serve as a precedent to challenge other media outlets using the same descriptors.

"Please update “the scarf,” “cultural cloth,” and “black and white checkered scarf” to simply “keffiyeh,” as it can be deeply offensive to Palestinians and their allies to use reductive terms to allude to the keffiyeh without providing any proper description of it, especially amidst the rise of anti-Palestinian racism."

When Israeli authorities banned the Palestinian flag from 1967 until the 1993 Oslo Accords, the keffiyeh became an expression of Palestinian identity. In the 60s and 70s, during the anti-war movement, students and anti-war campaigners started to adopt it. The keffiyeh became an overarching symbol of anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism. In short, the keffiyeh symbolizes the Palestinian identity, struggle, and resistance.

Please update “the scarf,” “cultural cloth,” and “black and white checkered scarf” to simply “keffiyeh,” as it can be deeply offensive to Palestinians and their allies to use reductive terms to allude to the keffiyeh without providing any proper description of it, especially amidst the rise of anti-Palestinian racism.

"Please update “checkered scarves” promptly, as it can be deeply offensive to Palestinians and their allies, especially amidst its ban at the Ontario Legislature and the rise of anti-Palestinian racism. You might want to consider words such as “an expression of Palestinian identity, struggle, and resistance” as they are more appropriate and accurate in describing the keffiyeh and its significance to the Palestinians and their allies."

“Black-and-white scarves” is a term extensively used in racist context on social media. On X (formerly Twitter), a search for the phrase pulls up innumerable tweets of far-right individuals, such as this one, using the phrase in highly racist remarks. The mistake to use the phrase by Toronto Star is almost certainly accidental, but we would strongly advise against its use, as it serves as a dog whistle