It is green, but also red, white and black. Just like the Palestinian flag. Furthermore, it is a fruit that has been cultivated throughout the Middle East for millennia. Enough so that the watermelon, for decades now, has become a political symbol, adopted throughout the world by supporters of the Palestinian cause. But now this fruit, which has now become a logo, lands in Hollywood. The photo of Violet Affleck, the eighteen-year-old daughter of two famous stars, Ben and Jennifer Garner, with a black sweatshirt printed with a watermelon in the shape of a map of the Holy Land, while walking with her mother in Beverly Hills, did not go unnoticed.
It is a shirt that costs 38 dollars produced by “Wear the peace”, a clothing house which, as can be deduced from the name, aims to make its customers aware of the atrocities of the world through the messages spread by its merchandise. The profits of this company, we read on their website, are donated to solidarity projects. In this case the purchase of this sweatshirt, renamed the “freedom melon crewneck” in the US media, finances aid to the populations of Gaza. An image that immediately went viral on social media, creating some discontent. In particular, the non-profit association “Stop Antisemitism” protested, noting how the shirt shows the map of the entire area, thus imagining a single Palestinian state and effectively erasing Israel.
In short, decades pass but watermelon continues to cause controversy. Its first political appearance was when it was displayed prominently on Arab markets, immediately after the 'Six Day War' in 1967, when Israel took control of the West Bank, Gaza and annexed East Jerusalem. At the time , displaying the Palestinian flag was considered a criminal offense. So the Palestinians got around that ban by showing off nice slices of watermelon instead of their flag. Then the story went on: in 1993, following the Oslo agreements, displaying the flag became legal again. But that popular fruit nevertheless remained a symbol. And its spread exploded after the outbreak of war in Gaza, following the October 7 attack by Hamas that killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and captured another 240 hostages. Thus, in the last three months the watermelon emoji has become proof of pro-Palestinian sympathy, an image repeated endlessly in online communication, a bit like what happens with the famous flags used by supporters of the various countries in conflict.
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