The selfie so explosive firebrand senator Lidia Thorpe had to delete it after it sparked a furious backlash – and the bizarre message it carried

Lidia Thorpe has backtracked on a photo of herself wearing a Hamas headband, saying she didn’t know the headband was linked to the terrorist group.

The independent senator from Victoria came in for a lot of criticism on Tuesday afternoon when she posted the controversial selfie on X.

The photo shows Ms Thorpe openly supporting Palestine in the ongoing conflict with Israel. She is smiling, holding a mug and wearing a green headband with the words ‘I love chocolate milk’ in Arabic letters.

The caption, alongside two chocolate bar emojis, read: ‘I wholeheartedly support this message. I hope you do too!’

Users were quick to condemn the senator for posing in the green headband, which was nearly identical to the type often worn by Hamas terrorists and supporters.

Ms Thorpe had already removed the photo from her profile on Wednesday morning, but not before her critics had posted screenshots of the photos all over the social media platform.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, Ms Thorpe explained that she had received the headband as a gift and was not aware that it resembled items of clothing worn by Hamas.

“This was meant as a lighthearted message about chocolate milk for the many Arabic-speaking people I have met and worked with in my career,” she said.

‘When I noticed that people were making a connection that was not intended at all and got angry about it, I deleted the post.

‘It was not my intention to cause any harm or upset and I apologize to those who were upset by this.

“My advocacy for Palestine is about pushing for peace and an end to the violence we see every day.”

She then called on the Australian government to push for a ceasefire in Gaza and pledged to focus on those issues.

When she first posted the photo on Tuesday, she was met with widespread criticism from X users who accused her of “dressing up” as a terrorist.

Others found the post offensive and divisive.

One user said: ‘Shame on you, Lidia Thorpe.’

Another wrote: ‘A politician in a democratically governed country puts on a terrorist costume. What a strange personality Lidia Thorpe is.’

A third user wrote: ‘Lidia Thorpe just posted a picture of herself wearing a H*mas headband… Supporting the “H*mas message” is supporting genocide against all Jews. This is abhorrent.

Ms Thorpe is an Indigenous activist who was a member of the Greens until 2023, when she became an independent and represented the Black Sovereign Movement.

On Monday, she delivered a speech at a “Free Palestine” rally in Melbourne, comparing the violence in Gaza to the attempted genocide of indigenous Australians by European colonists.

“As black people in this country, we know what it’s like to be targeted by the colonizer every minute of every day,” she told the crowd.

‘And as soon as we take a wrong step… their boot is on our neck.

“We become the perpetrator, we become the enemy because we stand up to genocide, because we stand up to injustice.”

She cited recently independent Senator Fatima Payman from Western Australia, who dramatically resigned from the Labor Party earlier in July after the party failed to take an appropriate position on the Gaza conflict.

Ms Payman claimed she had been excluded from the Labour party for speaking out on the issue and accused Israel of genocide in parliament, which she found objectionable.

“Look at Senator Payman and how she was treated every day when she walked across that floor,” Ms. Thorpe told the crowd on Monday.

“But I can tell you now that with Senator Payman on the independent bench, we will hold all of them accountable.”

At the Parliamentary Midwinter Ball on July 3, Mrs Thorpe appeared in a pro-Palestinian dress with the divisive phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ embroidered on the front.

The dress also had a bloodstained bottom and her handbag bore the slogan: ‘Love Harder.’