Recently Rachael Ray and Dunkin' Donuts have both come under fire for an advertisement featuring the TV host in what is allegedly a keffiyeh.

To say that this argument is nothing more than nonsensical xenophobia and Arab mongering would be an understatement.

According to Conservative columnist, Michelle Malkin, "the kaffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad." Nice try Ms. Malkin, but not good enough.

First off, the line about "traditional scarf of Arab men..." only contributes to the Conservative agenda's demonization of all things Arab, or what they believe to be Arab. 

If she really wanted to tie something you can get at Balenciaga or even Urban Outfitters to murder, she could have simply stated that the keffiyeh "has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad." The statement would remain a gross over-simplification and demonization of an entire movement, but it wouldn't inherently tie an entire ethnicity with what she believes to be murderers while still proving her inane point. 

Commenters on Malkin's Blog have tried to make the analogy that Ray's "unfortunate" wardrobe choice is akin to a "celebrity" wearing a swastika in an advertisement for a national chain and purporting to be ignorant to the nature of the symbol. Again, nice try but no cigar. Unlike the swastika, which was specifically adapted by Adolf Hitler himself to symbolize the third reich and his Nazi party, the keffiyeh was worn by Yasser Arafat, and adapted by the sympathizers of the Palestinian cause after coming to associate it with Arafat.

Arafat wore what most other Arab men living in the region had worn traditionally to protect themselves from direct sun exposure. The keffiyeh was worn by Arab men before Arafat and has been continued to be worn after Arafat and the Palestinian occupation. Unlike the swastika, which Adolf Hitler handpicked as the symbol of the Nazi party and is now directly linked with the third reich, the keffiyeh is a part of every day life in the Arab region and has never been exclusively used to present any political position other than, perhaps palestinian solidarity.