Snow White has been hijacked by legions of unemployed dimwits

Telegraph

15-03-2025

Even Snow White has to be a big deal. In the latest sign of the politicisation of absolutely everything, Disney has cancelled its customary red carpet razzmatazz because its two leading ladies, Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, are now seen as ciphers for Israel and Gaza. Looks like casting the Israeli actress as the evil queen and the Palestine activist as Snow White wasn't a strong enough message.
This is just the latest kerfuffle to hit the $300m-plus reboot of the 1937 classic. Some fans took umbrage when Disney announced Zegler as a Latina leading lady, apparently relishing the subversion of Snow White's eponymous skin. In January Peter Dinklage, best known as the dwarf from Game of Thrones, took issue with the movie's seven dwarves. And Zegler took the Mickey when she remarked that in the 1937 original, the prince 'literally stalks Snow White' and kisses her while she is in a coma so the cartoon character could not – all together, now – have given consent.
Gadot, by contrast, has been the model of elegance, despite being targeted by waves of antisemitism. Yes, the granddaughter of an Auschwitz survivor did her national service and has campaigned for the release of the hostages, but she has never courted controversy, always wishing peace on both sides.
Like all Israelis, she has bigger things to worry about. After October 7, she tried to raise awareness of the realities of jihadism by arranging a screening of GoPro footage of the atrocities at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Ironically, the sorrowful event dissolved into violence when a Gaza mob turned up at the door. Gadot had stayed away for her own safety.
In a rare speech earlier this month, the actress said: 'Never did I imagine that on the streets of the United States, and different cities around the world, we would see people not condemning Hamas, but celebrating, justifying and cheering on a massacre of Jews.' If you think that's provocative, it says more about you then it does about her.
Such friction as there has been between Gadot and Zegler has played out on social media. It has been something of a one-way street. The main episode went something like this. On Instagram, Gadot posted the Snow White trailer and a video of her in embrace with Zegler (who isn't Jewish, despite the name. She's Latina, remember? Do keep up). This provoked a slew of Israeli and Palestinian flag emojis from large numbers of unemployed dimwits online. Rather than simply ignore them, Zegler responded on X by thanking her fans for the trailer's 120m views and adding, ' always remember, free Palestine '.
This evoked no response from Gadot but it prompted a woman called Alia Malak, who represents a group called the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, to email the Guardian demanding a boycott of Snow White. 'By choosing to directly represent genocidal Israel, Gal Gadot's films are boycottable,' she wrote, agrammatically. 'We deeply appreciate that lead actor Rachel Zegler has publicly expressed support for Palestinian liberation, but that is not sufficient to undo the harm done by the inclusion of Israel's cultural ambassador.' Perhaps it's time for a two-film solution?
Peace, it seems, is as elusive in Hollywood as it is in the Middle East. Setting that aside, this is yet another example of art, from the telly to the gallery, being hijacked by dead-eyed social justice warriors. It may be unbearably petty, but we must stand firm: like it or not, this is a battle for the soul of our culture. Go Team Gadot! Am Yisrael chai.