Keffiyeh worn at Dawn Service
“I am deeply offended that a fellow councillor would wear a keffiyeh to a council Dawn Service event," says Liberal councillor Daniel Rosenfeld.
Liberal councillor Daniel Rosenfeld said he and several other Randwick councillors were shocked when Rafaela Pandolfini arrived at last week’s Anzac Day Dawn Service wearing a keffiyeh.
The Greens councillor attended the Coogee Dawn Service last Thursday, which is organised by Randwick Council, where she sat at the front and was one of the wreath layers.
Rosenfeld told The AJN that the majority of Randwick councillors were not impressed – with the exception of the Greens councillors – and they have made complaints to the Randwick Council general manger Ray Brownlee.
“This is an event where you are representing the council,” Rosenfeld said.
“I am deeply offended that a fellow councillor would wear a keffiyeh to a council Dawn Service event. Even worse this councillor laid a wreath while wearing it. This is a special day for all Australians and should not be hijacked by elected representatives while they are partaking in the sombre event.
“Our Local Government Authority has a large Jewish community and the wearing of a keffiyeh is deeply offensive to them. It has also offended many non-Jewish people both in and outside the LGA.”
Pandolfini has received backlash from Australians for her choice of pro-Palestinian attire, but she told The Daily Telegraph that it was the “most peaceful, small gesture” she could make in solidarity with the “violent murder of over 30,000 Palestinians” and that she attends the service to show respect to her grandfather who served in WWII.
“This scarf has a flower that looks just like a poppy … so I chose to wear it to the service,” she said.
An Anzac memorial dedicated to the Australian and New Zealand soldiers killed in Ottoman Palestine during the First and Second Battle of Gaza (1917) in World War I is located in Beersheva, southern Israel. The monument was erected with the support of JNF Australia and Jewish communities in Australia and New Zealand.
It is not the first time Pandolfini has caused controversy by wearing a keffiyeh to an official Randwick Council event.
In March, she emceed the council’s women’s art exhibition – held annually to mark International Women’s Day – wearing the pro-Palestinian statement piece. It left a local Jewish artist feeling “shocked and threatened”.
The AJN has contacted Pandolfini for comment.
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