The kaffiah - Not "Just a Scarf"

To understand the Dunkin-Donut-Racheal Ray-Kaffiah controversy one must have a minimal understanding of the history, otherwise, the entire matter can easily be portrayed as "it's just a scarf," as many on the left have been doing...knowing full well that most Americans have no clue what the fuss is all about. Political advantage is always on the side of those who appeal to ignorance, so to counter that let's do a tiny history lesson:

The Kaffiah is a scarf that has been culturally associated mostly (but not exclusively) with Sunni-Muslim Arabs of the Middle East, for centuries. It is worn around the neck or as a head covering and until modern times had no political meaning.

By the early 1960's, Arabs living in and around the newly formed state of Israel began to refer to themselves as "Palestinians" and to identify themselves as a separate and distinct national group. Before the creation of Israel in 1948, it was the Jews who called themselves Palestinians and the Arabs referred to themselves simply as "Arabs."

The emerging leader of this new Arab-Palestinian identity was a man named Yasser Arafat and he adopted the traditional Arab Kaffiah as his most visible and symbolic attire... and was almost never seen in public without it.

by the early 1970's Yasser Arafat had already earned the reputation as the worlds foremost pioneer of modern international terrorism... Hostage taking, political hijackings of aircraft, assassinations, bombings and massacres of civilian targets. Yasser Arafat became an international symbol of "Resistance" to the west in general and to Israel specifically. Those who identified with his cause quickly adopted his symbol, the Kaffiah, not merely as a scarf but as a pure political statement of identification with his cause and even his methods.

And because that cause was heavily supported by the Soviet communist regime, it was not long before extreme left-wing terrorist organizations in the West that had little to do with the Palestinian cause also adopted the Kaffiah as well: Italy's Red Brigades, and Germany's Badar Meinhoff gang...etc.... Every leftist violent radical terrorist with a cause soon adopted the Kaffiah as their symbol as well.

Gradually, over time, the Palestinian cause became more socially acceptable in "polite" liberal circles in the West and the Kaffiah came along for the "mainstreaming" ride. It is now marketed to youth as a "hip", fashionable expression of rebellion and resistance against authority... much in the same way that Che Guevara images, and green side bags with a large red star symbolizing Communist, Maoist ideology have become all the rage in Hollywood. Some even market it as "peace" symbols. George Orwell would be proud.

Those who have no knowledge of this history will simply not understand the issue (and sadly, that is most people). They have no way of understanding it or relating to the evil that it has symbolized over the years. That is how media types can refer to the Kaffiah as "just a scarf" with a straight face, or a Che T-shirt as "just a shirt". They simply don't get it. They would actually have to know history to get it and that just might be too much to ask.

Joe Gelman