Overwhelmed by watermelon emojis in support of Palestine, the Instagram accounts of KFC and Starbucks Indonesia have restricted comments under their posts. Both companies chose to support Israel, leading some Indonesians to call for a boycott of the brands.
The Instagram accounts of Starbucks and KFC Indonesia recently deleted comments under their latest publications, mainly composed of watermelon emojis in support of the Palestinian people.
KFC Indonesia completely shut down the comments section on several posts due to this wave of support.
KFC, Starbucks and other brands were specifically targeted by these watermelon emojis in support of Palestine as part of a more general boycott drive after these companies expressed their support for Israel after the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7.
On October 9, Starbucks Workers United, the company’s workers’ union, expressed its support for the Palestinian cause on Twitter. But Starbucks quickly deleted the tweet and disassociated itself from the comments. They justified themselves in a statement, saying that the tweet “reflect[ed] the [union’s] support for violence perpetrated by Hamas,” and “misrepresent[ed] the company’s position on the Israel-Hamas war.”
In addition to a flood of watermelon emojis, Internet users asked, “Where’s the donation for Palestine?”, or “Where’s the aid for renovating schools, hospitals, churches, mosques in Gaza?”
Starbucks and KFC Indonesia have not yet responded publicly to the decision to delete comments with messages in support of Palestine.
Similarly, some Indonesians have called for a boycott and demonstrated outside McDonald’s across the country to show their support for the Palestinian people.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, was one of the first countries to recognize the State of Palestine after its declaration of independence in 1988. On the other hand, Indonesia is one of 29 countries that do not recognize Israel.
The watermelon, a symbol of Palestine
For the Palestinians, the watermelon has a strong symbolic value. Following the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Israeli government prohibited Palestinians from displaying their flag.
As a way to circumvent the ban, Palestinians began using watermelons as flags. Cut into slices, the watermelon displays the same colors as the Palestinian flag: Red, white, green and black with the seeds.
This ban was lifted in 1993, during the Oslo Accords, but the watermelon still remains a symbol of support for Palestine, to avoid censorship on social networks.
However, in January 2023, Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, gave the Israeli police the right to seize the Palestinian flag.
In response to this ban, last June the director of Zazim Raluca Ganea, an Arab-Israeli community organization, said, “our message to the government is clear: we will always find ways to avoid unreasonable bans and we will not stop fighting for freedom of expression and democracy.”
