Since the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, an inverted red triangle has been used by pro-Palestinian protesters. [1] The red triangle as a Palestinian symbol dates back to the Arab Revolt, after which it was also used in the Palestinian flag. More recently, combat footage published by Hamas uses an inverted red triangle as an arrow to indicate Israeli military targets, such as tanks, just before they are struck. [2] [3] Usage of the triangle has spread to the international war-related protests, with some anti-Israel protesters using the symbol. [4]
The red triangle appears in the 1917 Flag of the Arab Revolt. [5] The color red in that context symbolized Arab independence and unity. [5]
The red triangle also appears in the Flag of Palestine, which was used during the 1936–1939 Palestinian revolt against British colonialism and Zionism. In a 1938 photograph, Palestinian rebels are seeing waving a black, white and green flag with a red triangle, and inside the red triangle there is a cross and crescent, symbolizing Muslim-Christian unity. [6]
Some theorize the symbol originates from the red triangle that appears in the Palestinian flag or from Nazi concentration camp badges. [4] [7] However, the Nazis used the inverted red triangle to identify prisoners with political views opposed to Nazism, not necessarily Jewish prisoners. [2]
Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, began using a red triangle to mark Israeli targets in propaganda videos since November 2023. [2]
The red triangle has appeared in signs and graffiti made by Palestinian supporters in Germany, [4] Canada, [2] the United States [2] and elsewhere.
It has sometimes been painted on private homes or businesses targeted by protesters, such as the apartment building of Columbia University's Chief Operating Officer, [8] or a popular Jewish-owned bakery in Sydney, Australia. [9]
The red triangle emoji (🔻) has been widely used by Palestinian supporters on social media. [10] In October 2024 it was reported that Meta had decided to begin removing posts that used the symbol in the context of the Israel/Palestine conflict. [10]
In July 2024, the Senate of Berlin voted to ban the symbol following an urgent motion filed by the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party. [11] Niklas Schrader, a member of Die Linke , cautioned that banning the symbol could unintentionally lead to the outlawing of other organizations. The Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime displays the triangle on their flag accompanied by prisoner stripes, a design that has also been seen at pro-Israel demonstrations. [4]
The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas, is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist political organisation with a military wing called the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. It has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007.
Nazi concentration camp badges, primarily triangles, were part of the system of identification in German camps. They were used in the concentration camps in the German-occupied countries to identify the reason the prisoners had been placed there. The triangles were made of fabric and were sewn on jackets and trousers of the prisoners. These mandatory badges of shame had specific meanings indicated by their colour and shape. Such emblems helped guards assign tasks to the detainees. For example, a guard at a glance could see if someone was a convicted criminal and thus likely of a tough temperament suitable for kapo duty.
The flag of the State of Palestine is a tricolour of three equal horizontal stripes—black, white, and green from top to bottom—overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. It displays the pan-Arab colours, which were first combined in the current style during the 1916 Arab Revolt, and represents the Palestinian people and the State of Palestine.
Red triangle may refer to:
The Gaza–Israel conflict is a localized part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict beginning in 1948, when about 200,000 of the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes settled in the Gaza Strip as refugees. Since then, Israel has been involved in about 15 wars involving organizations in the Gaza Strip. The number of Palestinians killed in the ongoing 2023–2024 war (41,000) is higher than the death toll of all other wars in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict combined.
The German Strafgesetzbuch in section § 86a outlaws use of symbols of "unconstitutional organizations" and terrorism outside the contexts of "art or science, research or teaching". The law does not name the individual symbols to be outlawed, and there is no official exhaustive list. However, the law has primarily been used to supress fascist, Nazi, communist, Islamic extremist and Russian militarist symbols. The law, adopted during the Cold War, most notably affected the Communist Party of Germany, which was banned as unconstitutional in 1956; the Socialist Reich Party, which was banned in 1952; and several small far-right parties.
Events in the year 2004 in the Palestinian territories.
The 2011–2012 Palestinian protests were a series of protests in the Palestinian National Authority and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, staged by various Palestinian groups as part of the wider Arab Spring. The protests were aimed to protest against the Palestinian government, as well as supporting the popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria. The first phase of protests took place during 2011 and the second phase in 2012.
Reactions to the 2014 Gaza War came from around the world.
The Palestinian keffiyeh is a distinctly patterned black-and-white keffiyeh.
The slogan of the Houthi movement, a Shia Islamist political and military organization in Yemen, reads "God Is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse be upon the Jews, Victory to Islam" on a vertical banner of Arabic text. It is often printed on a white background, with the written text in red and green colours derived from the flag of Iran; the pro-Islamic statements are coloured green while the statements about the United States, Israel, and the Jews are coloured red.
The 2018–2019 Gaza border protests, also known as the Great March of Return, were a series of demonstrations held each Friday in the Gaza Strip near the Gaza-Israel border from 30 March 2018 until 27 December 2019, in which Israeli forces killed a total of 223 Palestinians. The demonstrators demanded that the Palestinian refugees must be allowed to return to lands they were displaced from in what is now Israel. They protested against Israel's land, air and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip and the United States recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
Events in the year 2021 in Israel.
Germany–Palestine are relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Palestine. Germany does not recognize Palestine diplomatically. However, Germany has a Representation Office in Ramallah, while there is also a Palestinian Mission in Berlin. There are numerous contacts between both societies, and Germany provides economic support to the Palestinian Territories through development partnerships. Germany is diplomatically committed to a two-state solution and has acted as a mediator in the Arab–Israeli conflict in the past.
The Israel–Hamas war has sparked protests, demonstrations, and vigils around the world. These events focused on a variety of issues related to the conflict, including demands for a ceasefire, an end to the Israeli blockade and occupation, return of Israeli hostages, protesting war crimes, and providing humanitarian aid to Gaza. Since the war began on 7 October 2023, the death toll has exceeded 40,000.
Since 7 October 2023, numerous violent incidents prompted by the Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing Israel–Hamas war have been reported worldwide. They have accompanied a sharp increase in global antisemitism and Islamophobia, as well as anti-Israeli sentiment and anti-Palestinian sentiment or broader anti-Arab sentiment. Other people and groups have also been targeted, such as the Sikhs, who are commonly mistaken to be Muslims by their attackers.
Following the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war, there has been a surge of anti-Palestinianism, anti-Arab racism, and Islamophobia. Palestinians have expressed concerns over increased anti-Palestinianism in mass media and anti-Palestinian hate crimes. Human rights groups have noted an increase in anti-Palestinian hate speech and incitement to violence against Palestinians.
The watermelon is a symbol of Palestinians' public expression in protests and artworks, representing the struggle against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Within Our Lifetime - United For Palestine (WOL), is a pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist activist organization primarily active in New York City. The group has been one of the key organizers in the city's ongoing Israel-Hamas war protests.
Over the span of two days in July 2024, a series of protests against the United States' involvement in the Israel–Hamas war occurred in Washington D.C. The protests coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the United States and giving a speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. 23 people in total were arrested by police.