QED

The faces of fear


SeaCret targeted by Australians for Palestine 


SeaCret is an Israeli company which manufactures skin and spa products from Dead Sea minerals. It’s staffed by young Israelis who all appear to be on their gap year, having a kind of 21st century kibbutz experience in economic nation building. You can learn more at their website

Now, I am the first person to be cynical about the beauty industry, because I know 99% of it is piffle, and that 99% of its products are made of a blend of oil, wax and water, with some perfume and alcohol added to stop it all going off. (Read the side of the box if you don’t believe me – the biggest ingredients go first, and you’ll find that ‘aqua’ and ‘glycerine’ feature prominently in every single one). 

But what I am not cynical about is unkempt, lazy Australian university students, especially well-fed white ones with blonde dreadlocks who are wearing keffiyehs. When confronted by an assembly of these, including their unattractive nose-ringed girlfriends, all chanting loudly outside a SeaCret stand in a local shopping centre, I am moved to something quite uncharacteristic. This is the desire to spend large sums of money on beauty products manufactured by SeaCret. 

What seemed to be getting these young Trustafarians’ goat was that Israel (a sovereign state recognised by around 80% of the world’s countries, but by almost none in the Arab League) is engaged in a war with an entity called ‘Palestine’. This is none of my concern; the war I am more concerned about is the one that seems to be taking young Australian lives just at present.   

But I can tell you what I like even less than war, and that’s seeing the sick fear on the faces of the young Israelis behind the counter. I know anti-Semitism when I smell it, even when it’s dressed up as human rights – and so do they.

The demonstration I saw was not a manifestation of free speech; it was bullying, plain and simple. 

I hate bullies in any form, so I strongly recommend that you buy the Dead Sea salt scrub – your hands will glow. And while you’re at the SeaCret store, sitting on the comfortable stool and having yourself pampered with product specimens by a handsome young Israeli person of your choice, I strongly recommend that you also cultivate an elegant middle-finger salute to the assembled shrieking mob of youthful anti-Semites gathered nearby.

See also: A pogrom is announced

Leave a Reply