Wasim El‑Haj, a former careers adviser at Sydney Girls High School, has lodged a racial discrimination claim against the state of New South Wales in the federal court.
El‑Haj says that in 2024 the acting principal of the inner‑city selective government school told him to stop wearing a keffiyeh, arguing that the garment was a symbol that “may cause discord.”
He alleges that the directive was unlawful, breaching the Racial Discrimination Act, which protects people from discrimination on the basis of race, colour, or national or ethnic origin. The keffiyeh is widely recognised as a symbol of Palestinian identity.
El‑Haj’s case is now pending before the federal court, with no outcome announced. The school remains a prominent selective institution in Sydney’s inner city.
<small>Source: The Guardian — read the original story there.</small>
