The Jewish Chronicle

London Jewish boy gets death threats after wearing IDF costume for Purim

- BY JANE PRINSLEY

A JEWISH boy has been threatened with death and abused as a “Nazi” after a photo of him wearing an IDF uniform for Purim went viral on social media.

The image of the child with his face clearly visible was shared last weekend by accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers between them.

Some of the abusers called the child a “Nazi” and an “animal”; others threatened to attack him and equated the IDF with Hamas.

One post read: “Looks like a terrorist. Kill him.”

The child, who looks no older than ten, was pictured walking along a clearly identifiab­le street in London’s Stamford Hill wearing green khakis bearing the Israeli flag, a red military hat and a plastic assault rifle.

The area is home to one of London’s biggest Orthodox communitie­s.

Anonymous account

War Monitor shared the photo of the boy to more than 900,000 followers on X/Twitter on Monday with the caption: “Jewish child walking around [...] in Stamford Hill, London, dressed as an ‘IDF’ member carrying an assault rifle. Disgusting and despicable behaviour as usual from these people.”

Dilly Hussain, an anti-Israel agitator

His face was shared to almost a million people

and editor of Muslim blog 5 Pillars, tweeted the photo to more than 100,000 followers.

Purim marks the survival of the Jews after the Persian king tried to murder them. People commemorat­e the festival with costumes of Queen Esther and Mordechai and more contempora­ry get-ups such as IDF uniforms. IDF costumes for children can be purchased from Amazon for £23.99, although the toy weapon is not included. The company that makes the costume, Dress Up America, also sells US Army outfits for children.

 ?? PHOTO: TWITTER ?? Target: the image of the boy that went viral
PHOTO: TWITTER Target: the image of the boy that went viral

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