Palestine's Watermelon Movement
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Overview
Palestine's Watermelon Movement refers to a social media campaign to support Palestine by using artistic renderings of watermelons as an alternative to the Palestinian flag in order to avoid internet censorship. It gained popularity after the Hamas vs. Israel Conflict started in October 2023.
Background
After the Six Day War in 1967, the Israeli government banned the display of the Palestine flag within its borders. Later the Palestinians started using a watermelon to represent the Palestine flag because the fruit shares the colors red, green, white and black with the Palestinian flag. The ban lasted until 1993 after the Oslo Accords reduced the restrictions.[1]
Use of the watermelon as a symbol supporting Palestine again grew during the 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict. For example, on October 19th, 2023, the Instagram account jewishvoiceforpeace[2] uploaded an image of a watermelon calling for a global strike in support of Palestine, gaining over 66,000 likes in one month (shown below).
The same day, Instagram[2] page @indiarisingshow uploaded a clip of Indian news anchor Shreya Dhoundial, who was accused by an Israeli guest in the interview of supporting Hamaas after she wore black, green, and red traditional Indian clothes, saree. The video received more than 500,000 likes in three weeks (shown below).
Online Reactions
The clip inspired the use of the watermelon symbol to show support for Palestine. For example, on November 3rd, 2023, Indonesian webcomic Tuti and Friends uploaded on their Facebook[3] page their original characters wearing watermelon-themed clothes. The post received more than 11,000 reactions and 1,200 shares in four days (shown below, left). On November 4th, 2023, the Indonesian television network TV One uploaded a new logo using a watermelon theme to their Facebook[4] page. The post received more than 6,100 reactions and 110 shares in three days (shown below, right).
On November 3rd, 2023, Facebook[5] page Indonesian Hoaxes uploaded an AI Bing Image of a boy holding a slice of watermelon. The post received more than 3,100 reactions and 170 shares in four days (shown below, left). On the same day, Eet Sjahranie, a member of the Indonesian band Edane, uploaded from his Facebook[6] a watermelon-themed logo of his band. The post received more than 10,000 reactions and 170 shares in four days (shown below, right).
Search Interest
External References
[1] Bon Appètit – Why People Are Using the Watermelon Emoji in Social Posts About Palestine
[2] Instagram – @jewishvoiceforpeace
[3] Facebook – Tuti and Friends
[5] Facebook – Indonesian Hoaxes
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