Halloween: disguises of Israeli soldier and Arab sheikh are controversial<

TRICK OR TREAT?A few hours from Halloween, a false nose of "Arab sheikh" and a uniform, child size, as a soldier of the Israeli army cause discomfort.Under the fire of criticism, several American distribution giants decided to withdraw from the sale the articles in question, after having indignant pro-Palestinian activists and associations of combating racism, in a context of resurgence of violence to the loved one-East.

At 9.52 dollars (8.70 euros), the “latex nasal prosthesis is perfect for appearing an Arab sheikh”, according to the description put online by Wal-Mart.The false nose, hooked, also on sale on eBay, corresponds to traditional shots on the Sémite type.

"An ideal accessory" to "give free rein to his imagination"

The "panoply of Israeli military for children", sold at $ 21.02 (19 euros) is composed of khaki pants, a uniform jacket bearing a Hebrew inscription, a belt and aberet.It is possible to buy apart from a dummy machine gun pistol, this toy inspired by a Uzi model produced in Israel.A costume site describes him as "a perfect set if your child wants to disguise himself as a national hero" and "an ideal accessory" to "give free rein to his imagination".

"Such a symbol of terror and violence, against a background of a long history of dispossession (Palestinian goods), should not be used for the purpose of entertainment," said Samer Khalaf, president of the American-arab anti-discrimination Committee(ADC).This organization of defense of people of Arab origin denounced on Tuesday "anti-arab racist disguises" and required an explanation of Wal-Mart.A few hours later, the American supermarket group had withdrawn these two articles from its sales site, according to ADC.

Racial and anti -Semitic stereotype

The Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) had also denounced the postiche nose, presented on the sales sites under the name of "nose of sheikh fagin" or under the variant of "sultan nose".Fagin is a character from the book "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens, extremely controversial because conveying the racial and anti -Semitic stereotype of the deceitful and greedy Jew.

Contacted early Wednesday by email by AFP, Wal-Mart did not follow up.For its part Amazon, a great competitor of Wal-Mart, refused to comment on the subject but continued on Wednesday to offer for sale the two disguise articles.The Ebay group has assured AFP to have withdrawn the controversial nasal appendix from its e-commerce rays."We do not accept articles that promote or glorify hatred," said a company spokesperson.