Last week, ITV chose to censor a t-shirt displaying a watermelon in the shape of a map of historic Palestine

Posted: 29th October 2024

Last week, ITV chose to censor a t-shirt displaying a watermelon in the shape of a map of historic Palestine, worn by Big Brother contestant Ali Bromley during the programme. Originally, the t-shirt was displayed, before the episode was removed from ITV’s online on-demand service and reuploaded with the symbol removed.  

The channel went on to issue an apology for originally displaying the t-shirt, insinuating it fell afoul of its prohibition on “personal items” which could be “deemed harmful.”

Such egregious censorship of a symbol of Palestinian national identity must not go unchallenged. Can you write to the regulator, Ofcom, to demand it investigates and forces ITV to apologise for its censorship?

The watermelon, displaying the same colours as the Palestinian flag and grown across Palestine, has become a symbol of Palestinian national identity and rootedness in the land. It has been used by Palestinians to circumvent Israel’s ban on the display of the flag of Palestine.

ITV’s decision to censor a symbol of Palestinian national identity while Palestinians are facing Israel’s genocide, an existential threat to their survival, isolates Palestinians from their supporters around the world and provides legitimacy to Israel’s attempts to exterminate them.

Moreover, issuing an apology for displaying the watermelon grants unjustified credibility to those who falsely claim that expressions of Palestinian identity constitute antisemitic prejudice or hatred. Such a suggestion, that expressions of Palestinian national identity constitute antisemitism, is a form of anti-Palestinian racism that should not be granted legitimacy by a national broadcaster.

This incident is the latest in a number of recent cases in Britain where expressions of Palestinian identity have faced censorship.

This amounts to an increasingly widespread pattern of racism against Palestinians, where they are prevented from discussing the reality of living under Israel’s settler-colonial, apartheid, regime in Palestine or in forced exile, and confronting genocide.

We must push back. Please write to Ofcom today to demand it investigates and forces ITV to apologise.

In solidarity,
Lewis
PSC Campaigns Officer