Jewish Student Blasted for Wearing Mock Arab Outfit
A Jewish student government senator at the University of California, San Diego was accused of insensitivity for dressing in Middle Eastern garb at a costume party.
The senator, Ashton Cohen, was blasted by Amal Dalmar, a co-chair of the Student Affirmative Action Committee, and Noor El-Annan, a member of the Arab Student Union and Students for Justice in Palestine.
Cohen told JTA that the outfit was not intended to make light of anyone.
The criticism was reported in an article published last week in The Guardian, a campus newspaper.
El-Annan said that she was “offended and disgusted” by the photo because “something that my grandparents would have worn was funny to him.”
The criticism centered on a photo posted to Facebook of Cohen posing in traditional Middle Eastern attire with three women who were described in a caption as Cohen’s “three wives.” Cohen said that the caption was written by a Muslim friend of his.
Cohen, who is of Middle Eastern descent, said that he bought the outfit in Dubai. He said that the criticism from the Students for Justice in Palestine member was “an intimidation tactic because of my vote against divestment” from Israel in the student senate.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Chicago mayor donned keffiyeh for Arab Heritage Month event, sparking outcry from Jewish groups
-
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
-
Fast Forward Latvia again closes case against ‘Butcher of Riga,’ tied to mass murder of Jews
-
Fast Forward Protesters clash in Crown Heights as Ben-Gvir visits Chabad headquarters
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.