Three workers at a New York City museum are fired for wearing keffiyehs

Three workers at a New York City museum are fired for wearing keffiyehs

The Noguchi Museum in New York City said on Wednesday that three staff members had been sacked for disobeying the museum’s revised dress code by donning head scarves, known as keffiyehs, which have come to represent support for the Palestinian cause.

In global demonstrations calling for an end to Israel’s Gaza war, protesters have donned the black-and-white keffiyeh headscarf, claiming it symbolizes Palestinian self-determination. Proponents of Israel claim it is provocative and shows support for radicalism.

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Following a murderous strike by Palestinian Hamas terrorists on October 7, Israel has been waging a continuous military assault on Gaza that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and a humanitarian crisis.

Isamu Noguchi, a Japanese American sculptor, created the art museum, which last month announced a policy banning staff members from donning anything with “political messages, slogans, or symbols.”

“We acknowledge that such expressions can inadvertently alienate segments of our diverse visitorship, even though we understand that the purpose behind wearing this garment was to express personal views,” the statement read.

One of the three sacked gallery attendants, Natalie Cappellini, said on Instagram that the museum’s management was using the word “political” as a weapon against the Palestinian people.

The other two dismissed workers could not be reached by Reuters.

The keffiyeh has long been a symbol of Palestinian nationalism, highlighted by the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, who was rarely pictured without one.

Three Palestinian-American students in Vermont were shot in an incident that is still being looked into in November. The keffiyeh was on two of them.

People have lost their employment in the US in the past because of their opinions on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

A Palestinian American nurse was fired by a New York City hospital in May after she referred to Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide” in an award presentation speech. Israel disputes accusations of genocide made to the World Court by South Africa.

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