The keffiyeh is banned at Queen’s Park, but allowed in the Knesset in Israel

It must be said that clothing is in a gray area of ​​the assembly regulations until the case arises. The garment is both a traditional scarf, but it has also become a political symbol.

The keffiyeh (new window)a traditional Bedouin hairstyle, has become the emblem of the Palestinians.

The services of several political assemblies contacted by Radio-Canada cautiously refer to their internal regulations.

Ontario, Canadian exception

In Canada, the case of Ontario, where an explicit ban on the wearing of clothing is imposed by the president of the assembly, stands out from other provinces.

Most provincial and territorial legislatures have certain guidelines or rules regarding the dress of parliamentarians, with the exception of Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia.noted Kate Korte in an article published in 2022 in The Canadian Parliamentary Review. And again, the other two assemblies actually refer to other texts.

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To justify his decision, Ted Arnott invoked a established practice And the current contextwhich according to him makes the keffiyeh a political symbol.

The keffiyeh is an important cultural symbol that should be welcomed in all Canadian institutionsreacted on X (formerly Twitter) Arif Virani, the federal Minister of Justice after the Ontario decision. Expression of pride in one’s heritage should be celebrated, not suppressed.

In the House of Commons in Ottawa, the keffiyeh is authorized and was worn in March by NDP elected officials during the vote on a non-binding motion to promote peace in the Middle East.

All legislative assemblies authorize members to wear indigenous, traditional or cultural clothingalso noted Kate Korte in his comparative analysis.

In April, in Alberta, an NDP provincial MP wore the keffiyeh, which the Ontario Progressive Conservative MP Lisa MacLeod considered as reprehensible and unparliamentary.

In Quebec, nothing explicitly prohibits the keffiyeh, even if the question has never arisen, the services of the National Assembly tell Radio-Canada.

In the United States and Israel, the keffiyeh has already been worn in the House.

In France and the United Kingdom, the regulation seems to exclude it, even if it would also have to be interpreted if the question were to arise.

In Israel, the keffiyeh has already been accepted

The question of the keffiyeh even arose in 2014 in the Knesset, the Assembly of Israel. An Arab and Christian MP wore a keffiyeh to denounce the rhetoric of Interior Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich, which he said led to attacks on Arabs.

Despite protests from members of the House, the speaker of the assembly Yuli Edelstein then considered that the deputy was authorized to keep him. He had previously justified the situation by indicating that other deputies, including Yuli Edelstein himself, wear a kippah.

Since then, the regulations have been modified, but to make them more flexible and allow certain dresses and skirts if they are not too short.

The question of the keffiyeh has not been raised recently in the Knesset, nor after October 7.

I haven’t seen any representative with a keffiyeh in recent years, but to my knowledge there is no ruleindicates Yaara Di Segni, a Knesset spokesperson in communication with Radio-Canada.

This does not appear in the dress code, she adds. She points out that an Arab MP wears a hijab and several Jewish MPs wear kippahs.

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In the United States, keffiyehs against Joe Biden

In the United States, like Ontario, the chambers have long relied on unwritten rules, and not necessarily applied. It was only in 2023 that the Senate adopted written regulations to require a jacket and tie for men and without specifying what a office attire for women.

In the House of Representatives, the last sartorial battle dates back to 2017, when women asked to be able to wear sleeveless dresses and the Speaker of the House accepted that the rule needed to be modernized.

During Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in March, three Democratic representatives wore keffiyehs. A way of underlining, according to her, the insufficient action of the president for the Palestinian cause.

In the opposing camp, a Republican representative wore a t-shirt Never surrenderwith a portrait of Donald Trumpwhile its counterpart Marjorie Taylor Greene wore a cap Trump 2020.

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UK bans message scarves

In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons refers to its rules which require a business outfit that does not need to include a tie and banned military insignia and uniforms.

The regulations explicitly prohibit badges or scarves, if they promote a commercial or non-commercial cause. Here again, it would be necessary to determine whether the keffiyeh corresponds to this definition.

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In July 2023, MPs wore a white flower on their jackets, a tribute to the Srebrenica genocide, which caused the deaths of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in five days in 1995.

In France, tougher regulations and compulsory jackets

In France, the National Assembly tightened its regulations after the 2022 elections. The objective was to avoid overly casual outfits following the numerous arrival of deputies from the radical left, often wearing more casual outfits. The regulation now requires a suitable and not relaxed attire or, a fortiorineglected.

The regulations also indicate that the wearing of shorts or Bermuda shorts is prohibited. For men, wearing a jacket is mandatory, wearing a tie is recommended.indicates the new regulations after debates on whether or not to impose the tie.

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In 2017, an MP was fined a quarter of his allowance for one month, after wearing a soccer jersey from an amateur club, to defend the associative and voluntary sporting world.

Due to secularism, religious symbols are also prohibited. As in Ontario, clothing must not give political slogans. Thus, if a deputy of the French Assembly came with a keffiyeh, it would depend on how the President of the Assembly judges the garment.