Palestinian careers adviser sues NSW for racial discrimination over keffiyeh ban at Sydney school
A former careers adviser at a Sydney school has filed a federal court claim against the New South Wales government, alleging he was ordered to stop wearing a keffiyeh, in breach of racial discrimination law.
Wasim El-Haj, a former careers adviser at Sydney Girls High School, an inner-city selective government school, has lodged a racial discrimination claim in the federal court against the state of New South Wales.
El-Haj began wearing a keffiyeh, the traditional scarf long associated with the Palestinian cause, in January 2024, three months after Hamas's October 2023 attacks and the start of Israel's war in Gaza.
According to his statement of claim, then acting principal Geoffrey Denyer told him on 15 May 2024 that he had been directed to instruct El-Haj to remove the garment, adding that the order had come "from above, possibly from the minister," and that consequences would follow if he did not comply.
Denyer sent a follow-up email the same day citing the education department's policies on controversial issues and staff conduct, stating that schools needed to remain free of symbols that could "cause discord." El-Haj alleges Denyer later told him that any Palestinian symbol was regarded as a symbol of conflict.
In August 2024, a department official, Maria Serafim, presented El-Haj with six anonymous complaints, including one describing the keffiyeh as a symbol of "partisan conflict."
An internal complaint he lodged did not overturn the directive, and his appeal to the department's secretary, Murat Dizdar, was rejected in February 2025. Dizdar acknowledged the keffiyeh's cultural significance to Palestinians but said the department needed to preserve political neutrality in schools amid the Middle East conflict.
El-Haj took leave from May 2024 and formally resigned from the school in March 2025. The state of New South Wales has not yet filed its defence, with a case management hearing scheduled for 3 November. A department spokesperson said it remains committed to maintaining neutral, apolitical school environments.
