Dov Hikind, the New York Assemblyman, got in a lot of trouble ten days ago for going to a Purim party in blackface. Purim celebrates a triumph; and at about the same time, two Israeli parents constructed elaborate Purim costumes for their children that have also gotten some flak. Guess what they depict?
Twin towers Purim costume
Yes, the Twin Towers, in flames, with planes. The verisimilitude is bracing– these kids could have been exhibits at the 911 Commission.
Remember those pictures of Palestinians supposedly dancing on rooftops when the Twin Towers fell? Are these costumes in the same category? Scott McConnell, who noticed the original news item, says the impulse might have been a sympathetic one, that we’re all in the same boat: “The Purim Mom who concocted the costume probably appreciated 9-11 too–that’s the appeal, the Americans now feel as we do. It’s a celebration of a different sort.”
Oh here is the original report from Ashley Baylen at Shalom Life:
Enter Ilay and Nehaoray, seven-year-old twins from Israel whose parents “playfully” decided to dress their children up in famous twin costumes: the Twin Towers. Not only are the kids dressed as the famous New York City buildings, they are fashioning the structures while on fire… with the planes sticking out of the side right near the children’s eye holes.
Popular news website Ynet originally posted the image, with the headline “Twin Towers and other costumes this Purim.” After several commenters remarked about how the title was almost as distasteful as the costume itself, the publication chose to remove it.
Bibi was happy when 9/11 happened. Remember what he said, when he didn’t know he was being recorded? On another note, interesting that Italian youth have a politician idol that hates both Israel and the USA because he doesn’t know which is cause, and which is effect, or chicken or egg. So nice to be an average American conflated with so special Israel by the whole world: http://www.shalomlife.com/news/18866/the-clown-prince-of-italian-politics-not-a-fan-of-israel/
“Scott McConnell, who noticed the original news item, says the impulse might have been a sympathetic one, that we’re all in the same boat: ‘The Purim Mom who concocted the costume probably appreciated 9-11 too–that’s the appeal, the Americans now feel as we do. It’s a celebration of a different sort.'”
Yeah, right. I wonder if an American dressed his kids as, say, Auschwitz inmates on Holloween whether the “we’re all in the same boat” horsecrap would fly? Doubt it.
This no doubt is a candidate for the worst parental judgment I have ever seen. Scott’s theory that the parents were celebrating that “the Americans now feel as we do” is perfectly reasonable, but speculative – who knows what they were or were not thinking. What is quite real is that Israeli leaders, including Sharon, immediately used that line in the aftermath of 9/11. “Now you know what we’ve been experiencing for years.”
Also, I vividly recollect seeing that day a news report on TV that Israel was claiming evidence that Iraq was behind the attack. (I have not found anything online to confirm my memory.) It was obvious that day that Israel was trying to goad us into attacking Iraq, and I’m not quite sure why it took 18 months for us to comply.
Of interest.
Remember the dancing Israelis arrested the day of 911..the ones who worked for Urban Moving and were picked in their van on the bridge after some citizen called to report their celebrating? They were held by the INS and FBI for 2 months and then deported to Israel.
When they got back to Israel they tried to sue the US for arresting them…it got to court in 2009 but the judge threw their case out.
You can read some of the documents at leagle.com. The case is KURZBERG v. ASHCROFT 619 F.3d 176 (2010). The document is from the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. The Docket No. of the case is 07-0542-cv.
Jon Stewart did a good piece on Hikind
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-february-26-2013/crazy-stupid-dov