Disgust
at Walmart’s Israeli soldier costume for kids
Posted
by Ali Abunimah on October 27, 2015 in Activisim
& BDS, News &
Analysis, Palestine,
United States |
| 6
Responses
Walmart’s
Israeli soldier’s costume for children shows insensitivity to victims and
survivors of war crimes.
by
Ali Abunimah
Walmart’s
Israeli soldier’s costume for children shows insensitivity to victims and
survivors of war crimes.
Walmart,
one of the world’s largest retailers, has sparked outrage by selling an “Israeli
Soldier Costume for Kids.”
The
Halloween outfit is particularly distasteful at a time when human rights groups
are strongly
condemning Israel’s
policy of extrajudicially
executing Palestinians forced to live under its decades-long military
occupation.
The
costume, seen above, includes a dark green uniform and red beret. The jacket
includes the Hebrew abbreviation for “Israel Defense Forces.” An Internet
search shows that it is sold by other online retailers as well.
“When
I first saw the Israeli soldier costume for kids I thought it was a joke,” Gaza writer and editor Refaat Alareer
told The Electronic Intifada. “The model boy used to promote this costume is
probably the age of my niece, whose father Israeli soldiers murdered in Gaza in 2014 when they
destroyed our family home.”
In
the summer of 2014 the Israeli army killed 551 Palestinian children during its
assault on Gaza.
Many
child survivors of Israel’s
attack now have lifelong
injuries.
An
independent
UN Human Rights Council inquiry found extensive evidence of war crimes
during the assault that killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, likely ordered at
the highest level of the Israeli government.
Alareer’s
brother Muhammad, known as Hamada, was killed
during the Israeli attack on the eastern Gaza City
neighborhood of Shujaiya,
a devastating assault that destroyed the homes of thousands of families and
killed dozens of people.
Hamada
had played a beloved children’s character similar to Big Bird on Palestinian
TV, called Karkour. He left
behind his wife, a young daughter and baby son.
“I
am sure my orphan niece and nephew would be terrorized seeing the kid wearing
the Israeli khaki uniform which is the reason for the death of their beloved
dad,” Alareer said.
“The
Israeli soldier uniform will remain an ugly scar in the face of Walmart which
by selling this outfit promotes death, destruction and occupation,” he added.
“As a Palestinian who lost many relatives to Israeli soldiers in a costume like
the one Walmart is selling, I feel disgusted.”
Alareer
urged Walmart to “remove this revolting outfit and apologize for the 551
Palestinian kids Israel
murdered in the summer of 2014.”
He
also called on American parents to “boycott this outfit and Walmart and not
allow their kids to wear a costume of murderers.”
Racist
costumes
AJ Plus producer Dena Takruri also pointed out
other troubling and racist costumes for sale at Walmart.com.
These
include this “Sheikh Fagin Nose” mask. The “hook nose” is regular feature of
racist caricatures of Jews and Arabs. Fagin is the name of a villainous
character in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, often criticized
as an anti-Semitic stereotype.
Controversy
The
Israeli soldier costume has already generated negative media coverage for
Walmart, including in The
Independent, New
York Daily News, Al
Arabiya and The
Jerusalem Post.
An
inquiry has been sent to the company, but other media say the retailer has yet
to comment.
Last
summer, Walmart removed
items bearing the Confederate flag from its shelves.
The
move came after a gunman murdered nine African Americans at the Emanuel African
Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston,
South Carolina, on 17 June.
Dylann Roof, an
avowed white supremacist who posted pictures of himself posing with the
Confederate flag, has been charged with the killings.
While
Walmart had profited from the racist symbol for years, it bowed to a wave of
revulsion and decided to stop selling the flag.
It
remains to be seen whether Walmart will show any such sensitivity to the child
victims of Israel’s
occupation and war crimes.
Related
Posts
- Confronting the Obvious Truth: Palestinian Authority vs. the People→
- Israel’s descent into unmasked, right wing extremism: A new generation rises to fight occupation, settler-colonialism, apartheid→
- We are lifelong Zionists. Here’s why we’ve chosen to boycott Israel
- Israeli self-inflicted hate…
Idiots!
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