This Trendy Tote Makes a Fashion Statement — About Islamophobia
Image by Rock Paper Scissors
By Naomi Zeveloff August 18, 2016
A simple tote bag created by Haifa designers Sana Jammalieh and Haitham Haddad is sweeping the internet as a commentary on global anti-Arab sentiment.
Black Arabic script on the bag reads: “This text has no other purpose than to spread terror in the hearts of those who are afraid of the Arabic language.”
Nader al-Sarras, a journalist in Berlin, spotted the tote bag on the German metro and shared it on Facebook. It has since been tweeted 30,000 times, say the designers, both Palestinian citizens of Israel. They have received hundreds of orders for the $5 tote bag.
“These days, all over the world, in Europe and in the United States and here there is a common fear of this language,” said Haddad. “We made a sarcastic statement with this tote.”
When non-Arabic speakers overhear a conversation in Arabic, added Jammalieh, “they think something bad is going to happen any minute, something is going to blow up or something and we wanted to fight back by this design.”
She said that the bag is a also comment on the erasure of Arabic signage in Israel. Despite a 2002 Supreme Court ruling to place Arabic — one of Israel’s official languages — on Tel Aviv street signs, a 2016 Haaretz investigation found that many signs in the city contained only Hebrew and English.
Jammalieh, 29, and Haddad, 27, are the owners of Rock Paper Scissors studio in Haifa, where they sell T-shirts and bags featuring their original designs. The two met at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Ramat Gan where Jammalieh, originally from Nazareth, studied graphic design and Haddad, a Haifa native, studied fashion.
Another popular shirt from their studio says in Arabic, simply, “I love you.”
Contact Naomi Zeveloff at [email protected] or on Twitter @naomizeveloff
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
