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Dutch politician Esther Ouwehand was asked to remove her first shirt (Palestine flag), so she came back wearing another one of watermelon seeds. (media.expressional.social)

submitted 1 week ago by Peter_Link@expressional.social to c/palestine@lemmy.ml

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Dutch politician Esther Ouwehand was asked to remove her first shirt (Palestine flag), so she came back wearing another one of watermelon seeds.

see original post: https://techhub.social/@mahmoudoov/115232831501836545

#EstherOuwehand #gaza #palestine #genocide #StopGenocide #NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
@palestine@lemmy.ml @palestine@fedibird.com

all 33 comments

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[-] DrBob@lemmy.ca 55 points 1 week ago

What's the significance of watermelon seeds?

[-] platypode@sh.itjust.works 108 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Watermelon has been used as a plausibly deniable way to show support for Palestine since 1967 per Wikipedia, since it shares the same colors as the flag while being a completely common and innocuous item.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 week ago

I was not aware of this. Thank you kindly

[-] Birch@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

TIL about watermelon 🍉 support

E: there ought to be a list of hidden meaning of various emojis

[-] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago

Same colors as the one she was told to remove.

[-] Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 week ago

Who asked her and under what authority?

This timeline is batshit insane

[-] HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 week ago

At least in Germany, and I imagine it would be similar in the Netherlands, it would be the parliament's president because political symbols on clothing are not allowed.

[-] mrdown@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

political symbols on clothing are not allowed

Not really. The Israeli flag has been raised over the German Bundestag building

[-] grindemup@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

You know that a building is not the same as clothing, right?

[-] mrdown@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Why does it matter on what the political symbol is?

[-] anzo@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago

Aww, you're so cute. Like the law would care about common sense instead of opressing minorities ;p

[-] HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago

Thats cute that you say opressing minorities because that decision (to put up the flag on that day) was made unanimously.

[-] hyacin@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Because you're talking about a law or rule - it is literally all about how it is written - people build entire careers on debating the interpretation of how they are written.

"No government employee can wear political symbols to work" is 100%, clearly and entirely not the same as "No political symbols may be shown anywhere on any government property"

Seriously?? A downvote?? You asked why it matters, I explained why it matters, jfc, leave the nasty Reddit behaviour on Reddit tyvm.

[-] HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago

Yeah because the Bundestag voted for it (unanimously btw)

[-] hyacin@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

political symbols on clothing are not allowed

Had some similar silliness in the Ontario provincial parliament in Canada when they decided a keffiyeh was a 'political symbol' or some such bs - they threw a member right out for refusing to take it off.

[-] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 5 points 1 week ago

IMO, it would be better if politicians were like Nascar drivers. At least it would be more honest.

[-] thymos@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 week ago

The speaker of the house asked her, but only when urged to by another member of parliament who reminded him that earlier this year, another member was asked to change the T-shirt he was wearing with a foetus on it during a debate about abortion. The rule is that the appearance of the parliament should be neutral.

By the way, because she was asked to change her clothes, the moment was aired in all talk shows that evening, with an explanation of the watermelon blouse she wore later (and which the speaker suggested she wore instead by the way), so this incident only helped to get her message out there.

[-] Sausa@beehaw.org 14 points 1 week ago

Watermelon is often used as a symbol of Palestinian resistance as it has the same colours as the flag: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon_as_a_Palestinian_symbol

[-] Auntievenim@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago

Ngl both shirts go hard

[-] Fancy_Gecko@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 week ago

freedom of speech

[-] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Go Esther. The people who asked you to remove that flag don't want to be reminded that they are standing by while a genocide is underway.

[-] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Yep those are two different shirts all right

[-] SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago

Make it into politics and men are still pressuring you to take off your shirt

[-] Star@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 week ago

Where can I buy both of these? I love this

[-] spykee@lemmings.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Okay, I confess I now want more Esther in my life.
...and Esther changing into different tops....has now woken something in me.

[-] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 2 points 1 week ago

A new Antifa perhaps?

[-] spykee@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago

As long as Esther is the poster ~~girl~~ babe, I'm fine with whatever new it is.

[-] TheGreatSpoon@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

FYI she's a liberal zionist grifter who sided with Israel for over a year after the genocide started.

Denk and BIJ1 are the only parties that have supported Palestine from day 1 and the latter lost their singular seat in parliament after the last elections.

[-] WalterLego@lemmy.zip -3 points 1 week ago

Good for her. I don't think Israel should stop to exist and I support every liberal Israeli that wants to progress towards peace and coexistence.

If people want to drive Jews out of Israel, how are they better than Netanjahu and his genocidal government?

[-] DistrictSIX@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago

The false choice of either you're a Zionist or you want to drive Jews out of Israel is so lazy and tired at this point.

Binational state, one person one vote, equal rights for all, truth and reconciliation. There's your third choice, and there are many more.

[-] Peter_Link@expressional.social 2 points 1 week ago

@palestine@lemmy.ml
@WalterLego @TheGreatSpoon
@palestine@fedibird.com

Whether or not she supports a Jewish-(supremacist) state of #Israel, it's still positive that she took a stand with the shirts.

But it isn't anti-#Jewish to advocate a single democratic state of #Palestine for all of those who live there (including those #Palestinians who were driven out since 1948, and their descendants).

Below is a T-shirt that I came up with that expresses that idea.

https://media.expressional.social/media_attachments/files/114/229/862/649/109/487/original/d5ff095a2d5db52b.jpeg

@palestine@lemmy.ml
@palestine@fedibird.com

[-] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 3 points 1 week ago

So many nazis. We need to make a list!

this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2025

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