Michael Freilich criticized Minister of Development Cooperation and Major Cities Policy Caroline Gennez (Vooruit) on Thursday evening in The Appointment. He called her statements about the German position in the conflict between Israel and Palestine “polarizing” and later shared images of the episode on X.
Someone responded: “He still doesn’t know, Michael Freilich. The whole world has seen how Zionists treat Palestinians. Your fairy tale is over.” Freilich responded to that message as follows:
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This provoked outrage from many people. A watermelon has been a symbol for Palestine for decades. According to them, Freilich’s message implied that the MP “eats Palestinians for breakfast.” “You know well enough that this is a symbol for Palestine,” the comments said. “What a sick hateful tweet.”
“Intended to be humorous”
An apology from Freilich followed on Saturday afternoon. “I notice there has been some commotion about a recent post of mine,” he wrote. “I would like to explain this for a better understanding. My message was in response to an insulting tweet suggesting that ‘my fairy tale is over’,” he continues. “This tweet was from someone with a watermelon in their profile name, which is relevant to the context of my response.”
“My response was intended to be humorous, hence the smiley at the end. What I really wanted to say was: ‘your attack on me doesn’t affect me’. However, it is difficult to convey humor through a screen, which is why I mention this explicitly now.”
“Nevertheless, if people are actually offended by my words, I have no problem apologizing,” Freilich said. “Great is the man/woman who can recognize when something is left and then knows how to put it right.”
The N-VA member concludes with a clarification: “This does not detract from my commitment to a two-state solution, a position that I already defended before I entered politics.”
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Powerful symbol
The fact that the use of a watermelon emoji can cause a stir on social media may seem out of proportion, but for Palestinians it is an important symbol. Since Israel’s response to Hamas’ attack in October, the watermelon has once again become ubiquitous on social media, but the fruit has symbolized Palestinians and their flag since the 1960s.
In 1967, when Israel gained control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Israeli government declared the public display of the Palestinian flag a criminal offense in the two occupied regions. To get around that ban, Palestinians used the watermelon as a symbol of their nation. The piece of fruit consists of the same colors as the forbidden flag: red, black, green and white.
Israel lifted the ban on the flag in 1993, following the Oslo Accords, which were supposed to serve as a first step towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian flag then became the official flag of the Palestinian Authority, which was put in charge of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
But the symbol of the watermelon endured and reemerged actively as the Israeli government evicted Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem. In January 2023, Israeli police were again given the power to confiscate Palestinian flags, and in June a law was passed banning the display of the flag at state-funded institutions.
In response to the new ban, the watermelon symbol reappeared on the streets of Tel Aviv as part of a protest. Now that the conflict between Israel and Palestine is raging again, it is spreading worldwide – with the help of social media – in support of the Palestinian population.