Walmart pulls IDF, ‘Sheikh Fagin’ costumes

Walmart on Tuesday pulled an IDF soldier Halloween costume and a controversial “Sheik Fagin nose” following outrage on social media and from an Arab anti-discrimination group.

According to the New York Times, Walmart’s online store pulled the prosthetic nose described as “perfect for an Arab sheik” just hours after the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee expressed concern that it would be used in “racist anti-Arab costumes.”

The “Sheikh Fagin nose,” a latex prosthetic nose which the Walmart website deems “perfect for an Arab Sheik,” likewise generated criticism for its name, the stereotypical greedy Jew in Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist,” the BBC reported.

A Walmart Sheik Fagin Nose

The company that produces the noses told the newspaper that they would “definitely discontinue it.”

Arab bloggers who also complained about an Israeli soldier costume also succeeded in having the item pulled. The costume, which resembles a uniform worn by Israeli soldiers in elite combat units, is available on the discount department store chain’s website for $27.44, reduced from $57.62.

The Walmart Facebook page was flooded with criticism, including calls for a boycott of the chain.

One post called the costume “extremely offensive and highly insensitive, not only to the millions of Palestinian-Americans that shop in your stores, but to anyone who has an ounce of humanity in their bodies.”’

On the Walmart site, under customer reviews, one commenter wrote, “Might as well sell a Hitler outfit for children as well! Pitiful!”

Another said: “Your little one can now go to his friend’s house, and take over their bedroom, and all of their toys and claim that God has given him/her the right to take it. If the friend refuses, your little IDF soldier can respond with force, and if they fight back, claim anti-Semitism, the right to defend their new room full of God given toys and level the whole family and neighborhood block!”