Latest news with #MuseumofTolerance
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Yahoo
Torrance cops strike plea deal in swastika graffiti case that uncovered racist texts
Two former Torrance police officers pleaded guilty Thursday to charges they spray-painted a swastika inside a car in 2020, a vandalism incident that revealed the officers were part of a larger text thread in which city cops used racist and homophobic slurs and joked about killing Black men. Cody Weldin, 31, and Christopher Tomsic, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of felony vandalism each. They will spend two years on probation and must give up their right to serve as law enforcement officers in California, according to the terms of the plea. Tomsic and Weldin must also give up their firearms, complete 100 hours of community service and 15 hours of anti-racism training, and attend a tour of the Museum of Tolerance in West Los Angeles. In 2021, the two ex-officers were accused of spray-painting a swastika inside a vehicle that had been towed from the scene of an alleged mail theft. The victim, Kiley Swaine, later filed a lawsuit accusing the officers of unlawfully searching his vehicle and expressed fear for his life because of the officers' actions, noting his grandfather was Jewish. Tomsic and Weldin declined to be interviewed outside the courtroom, but their attorneys both said the former officers believed the plea deal was a fair resolution. Lisa Houle said Tomsic "accepted responsibility virtually from the beginning of the case." "He is remorseful and apologizes to the Torrance Police Department and the community for the harm he has caused and the trust that he violated," she said. Tom Yu, who represented Weldin, said he was glad his client could "move on with his life." A search warrant executed as part of the vandalism investigation led to a troubling discovery: hundreds of text messages in which officers used racist and homophobic slurs, joked about beating and racially profiling suspects and, in some instances, fantasized about killing Black people. 'Lucky I wasn't out and about,' one officer wrote in response to a text about Black men robbing someone in Torrance, according to records previously obtained by The Times. 'D.A. shoot team asking me why they are all hung by a noose and shot in the back of the head 8 times each.' In another conversation about needlessly beating a female suspect, Sgt. Brian Kawamoto said he wanted to "make Torrance great again," a play on President Trump's ubiquitous campaign slogan. "Immediately upon learning of the reprehensible allegations in this case, Torrance police detectives initiated a vigorous investigation that resulted in criminal charges, and ultimately led to today's guilty pleas," Lt. Fareed Ahmad, a department spokesman, said in a statement. "The Torrance Police Department holds its officers to the highest standards of policing, including treating all members of the public with respect as we protect the safety of our community." A previous Times investigation which identified most of the officers on the text chain also found several officers in the group had been involved in at least seven serious use-of-force incidents in Torrance and Long Beach between 2013 and 2021. Three of those incidents ended in the deaths of Black and Latino men, according to police use-of-force records and court filings. Read more: New racist texts reveal Torrance cops talked about hurting and killing Black suspects Tomsic and Weldin are the first of five officers linked to the scandal to be criminally convicted. Three others are awaiting trial. David Chandler was charged with assault for shooting a Black man in the back in 2018 while the man was experiencing a mental health crisis at his grandmother's home. The victim was brandishing a knife but not threatening anyone at the time of the shooting, according to prosecutors, who said the man was walking away when Chandler opened fire. A judge upheld the assault charges at a preliminary hearing in 2023. Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez are awaiting trial on manslaughter charges in the 2018 killing of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, who was sitting in a car with an air rifle across his lap when the officers fired the fatal rounds. Mitchell, a car theft suspect, was parked in a Ralph's parking lot when he was killed. L.A. County prosecutors initially declined to prosecute the officers, but former Dist. Atty. George Gascón reopened the case, and a grand jury indicted Conannon and Chavez in 2023. Current Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman fired the special prosecutor who brought those charges late last year, but he has appointed a replacement who is currently overseeing the case. In the text thread, officers used the N-word to describe Mitchell's relatives, according to records previously obtained by The Times. Read more: California attorney general to investigate Torrance police after racist text scandal Dozens of criminal cases had to be thrown out due to the officers' remarks, and several of those involved have been fired. Aside from Tomsic and Weldin, seven other officers linked to the scandal have had their ability to be a police officer in California temporarily suspended by the state's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. A spokesman for the commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Disciplinary records from that board, which were made public earlier this year, identified Weldin as the "owner" of the group text in which many of the racist remarks were found. The group was dubbed "The Boys," records show. His attorney said that simply meant Weldin started the text thread. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced an investigation into the Torrance Police Department in December 2021, the day The Times first revealed the contents of the text thread. None of the findings have been made public, and it is unclear what, if any, impact the probe has achieved. A spokesperson for the attorney general's office said this week they could not comment on an ongoing investigation. Ahmad said Torrance Police Chief Jeremiah Hart reached out to the state attorney general's office shortly after the scandal surfaced in 2021, and the department formalized an agreement with the California Department of Justice in 2022. "We have collaborated with the DOJ throughout the process, providing full access to the department, our employees and records," Ahmad said. "The goal is to work with the DOJ to make sure the Torrance Police Department promotes public safety while at the same time ensuring that the public is treated with respect." Times staff writer Libor Jany contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
10-04-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Torrance cops strike plea deal in swastika graffiti case that uncovered racist texts
Two former Torrance police officers pleaded guilty Thursday to charges they spray painted a swastika inside of a car in 2020, a vandalism incident that revealed the officers were part of a larger text thread in which city cops used racist and homophobic slurs and joked about killing Black men. Cody Weldin, 31, and Christopher Tomsic, 32, pled guilty to one count of felony vandalism each. They will spend two years on probation and must give up their right to serve as law enforcement officers in California, according to the terms of the plea. Tomsic and Weldin must also give up their firearms, complete 100 hours of community service, 15 hours of anti-racism training and attend a tour of the Museum of Tolerance in West Los Angeles. In 2021, the two ex-officers were accused of spray painting a swastika inside a vehicle that had been towed from the scene of an alleged mail theft. The victim, Kiley Swaine, later filed a lawsuit accusing the officers of unlawfully searching his vehicle and expressed fear for his life because of the officers' actions, noting his grandfather was Jewish. Tomsic and Weldin declined to be interviewed outside the courtroom, but their attorneys both said the former officers believed the plea deal was a fair resolution. Lisa Houle said Tomsic 'accepted responsibility virtually from the beginning of the case.' 'He is remorseful and apologizes to the Torrance Police Department and the community for the harm he has caused and the trust that he violated,' she said. Tom Yu, who represented Weldin, said he was glad his client could 'move on with his life.' A search warrant executed as part of the vandalism investigation led to a troubling discovery: hundreds of text messages in which officers used racist and homophobic slurs, joked about beating and racially profiling suspects and, in some instances, fantasized about killing Black people. 'Lucky I wasn't out and about,' one officer wrote in response to a text about Black men robbing someone in Torrance, according to records previously obtained by The Times. 'D.A. shoot team asking me why they are all hung by a noose and shot in the back of the head 8 times each.' In another conversation about needlessly beating a female suspect, Sgt. Brian Kawamoto said he wanted to 'make Torrance great again,' a play on President Trump's ubiquitous campaign slogan. 'Immediately upon learning of the reprehensible allegations in this case, Torrance police detectives initiated a vigorous investigation that resulted in criminal charges, and ultimately led to today's guilty pleas,' Lt. Fareed Ahmad, a department spokesman, said in a statement. 'The Torrance Police Department holds its officers to the highest standards of policing, including treating all members of the public with respect as we protect the safety of our community.' A previous Times investigation which identified most of the officers on the text chain also found several officers in the group had been involved in at least seven serious use-of-force incidents in Torrance and Long Beach between 2013 and 2021. Three of those incidents ended in the deaths of Black and Latino men, according to police use-of-force records and court filings. Tomsic and Weldin are the first of five officers linked to the scandal to be criminally convicted. Three others are awaiting trial. David Chandler was charged with assault for shooting a Black man in the back in 2018 while the man was experiencing a mental health crisis at his grandmother's home. The victim was brandishing a knife but not threatening anyone at the time of the shooting, according to prosecutors, who said the man was walking away when Chandler opened fire. A judge upheld the assault charges at a preliminary hearing in 2023. Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez are awaiting trial on manslaughter charges in the 2018 killing of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, who was sitting in a car with an air rifle across his lap when the officers fired the fatal rounds. Mitchell, a car theft suspect, was parked in a Ralph's parking lot when he was killed. L.A. County prosecutors initially declined to prosecute the officers, but former Dist. Atty. George Gascón reopened the case, and a grand jury indicted Conannon and Chavez in 2023. Current Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman fired the special prosecutor who brought those charges late last year, but he has appointed a replacement who is currently overseeing the case. In the text thread, officers used the N-word to describe Mitchell's relatives, according to records previously obtained by The Times. Dozens of criminal cases had to be thrown out due to the officers' remarks, and several of those involved have been fired. Aside from Tomsic and Weldin, seven other officers linked to the scandal have had their ability to be a police officer in California temporarily suspended by the state's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. A spokesman for POST did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Disciplinary records from that board, which were made public earlier this year, identified Weldin as the 'owner' of the group text in which many of the racist remarks were found. The group was dubbed 'The Boys,' records show. His attorney said that simply meant Weldin started the text thread. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced an investigation into the Torrance Police Department in December 2021, the day The Times first revealed the contents of the text thread. None of the findings have been made public, and it is unclear what, if any, impact the probe has achieved. A spokesperson for the attorney general's office said this week they could not comment on an ongoing investigation. Ahmad said Torrance Police Chief Jeremiah Hart reached out to the state attorney general's office shortly after the scandal surfaced in 2021, and the department formalized an agreement with the California Department of Justice in 2022. 'We have collaborated with the DOJ throughout the process, providing full access to the department, our employees and records,' Ahmad said. 'The goal is to work with the DOJ to make sure the Torrance Police Department promotes public safety while at the same time ensuring that the public is treated with respect.' Times Staff Writer Libor Jany contributed to this report.
Forbes
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Healing October 7 Survivors and First Responders with Art: Tomer Peretz at The Museum of Tolerance.
The healing power of art is a phrase one hears a lot, but in a new exhibition, ART WILL S8T YOU FREE, at the Museum of Tolerance in Beverly Hills, one can see art therapy in action, in a collection of eight works that Los Angeles-based Israeli-American artist Tomer Peretz, the first artist in residence at the Museum of Tolerance, made with October 7th survivors and first responders. The exhibition is all the more meaningful because doing so was part of Peretz's own response to his traumatic experience as a first responder to Kibbutz Be'eri, one of the most murderous sites of the Hamas-led pogrom. What one sees in the lobby of the museum are eight works made collaboratively with different groups of survivors, orphans, first responders, and frontline soldiers. The museum has also set up an installation of a large canvas that will be painted on site. Also, groups can arrange to visit the museum and collaborate with Tomer and/or his team of artists. Finally, in the space below the lobby, Israeli artist Kalia Gisele Littman, who makes trauma-based art, has an installation combining sound, video, and photography of Tomer and his group of first responders returning to Be'eri, made by her, Michael 'Mike' Canon and Avia Moshe. 'The Museum of Tolerance has a longstanding connection to art therapy as a method of exploring and healing human suffering, from the personal anguish of the individual to historic levels of collective trauma,' said Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance. 'Launching our artist in residence program marks a significant step in expanding the Museum's mission to educate, inspire and engage global audiences through the power of art. Tomer Peretz's work exemplifies resilience, healing and the unyielding strength of the human spirit.' Tomer Peretz Photo by Michael 'Mike' Cannon Courtesy of Cannon and Tomer Peretz Peretz's own story is one of trauma, creative expression, avoidance, and finding healing and meaning in what he can do for others. Peretz grew up in East Jerusalem. His father came to Israel as a child from Morroco and worked as a clerk in a bank; his mother cleaned houses. They lived not far from the Western Wall, in an area surrounded by Arab neighborhoods that he had to traverse each day on his way to school. He was often harassed and got into fights most days. As a kid, he was always drawing in his notebooks at school, eventually creating murals on his friends' bedroom walls. He enjoyed creating but didn't think of himself as an artist. However, he did apply to Bezalel, Israel's prestigious art academy, but was not accepted. Peretz entered the military (the IDF) around the time of the Second Intifada (roughly 2000-2005). During this period there were 138 Palestinian suicide bomb attacks, targeting civilians in bars, markets, and public places, sometimes as many as fifteen in one month. Peretz was in the elite Golani Brigade for four years, intensely involved in military operations. Peretz did not disclose where he was or what he did, but it is no secret that during that time Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield, with combat in civilian areas in West Bank cities such as Jenin, Nablus. Bethlehem, Ramallah, Tulkarm and Hebron. 30 Israeli soldiers were killed and 127 were wounded. B'Tselem reported that 240 Palestinians were killed by Israel security forces. For years, Peretz would have flashbacks and PTSD from his military service. After leaving the military, Peretz, in the tradition of many young Israelis before him, went backpacking across South America. His original plan was to spend 11 months doing so, end up in LA, to work and save money, and then go to India. Instead, he spent seven years in South America. Wherever he went he painted on walls. In Argentina and Brazil, he made murals to soccer superstars Maradona and Ceara. Eventually he made his way to LA, spending two years there, before returning to Israel. However, once back in Israel, Peretz no longer wanted to be part of the existential drama of living there. He'd had enough. He was burned out. He had given his time to the IDF and he was done. He came back to LA which he felt was 'the big world. The place where you can really achieve your dreams and do big things.' Los Angeles then was a place where street art was in full bloom, from Shepard Fairey to Mr. Brainwash, Peretz was aware of their work and even attended Mr. Brainwash's first show on Melrose in the Fairfax district. Rather than paint murals in homes or street walls, Peretz decided to go smaller and paint on canvases. He developed what can be called a journalistic or reportorial style, in which he spent extended time with his subjects really getting to know them, in ways that allowed him to tell their story through his portraits. He became a successful artist able to support his wife and children. Peretz went on to explore photography, videos, even NFTs, expanding the boundaries of his practice. His works expanded on occasion to tell the stories of social challenges or people doing interesting things in far-flung places. Peretz began to travel again, finding new subjects as diverse as his own ascent to the Everest Mountain base camp. For Peretz there were potential portraits subjects everywhere, from his taxi driver in Thailand to a popular Mexican actor whose grandmother lived a simple life in Puebla. But one place he was disconnected from was Israel. Peretz had made a life in LA. He still brought his family, his wife and three children, back to Israel to see his parents and relatives, and he stayed in touch though social messaging apps with his friends from his former combat unit, but he did not participate in reserve duty. That part of his life had been put away. More than a year ago, he went to Israel to attend a wedding, accompanied by his two sons, age six and nine. His wife and his daughter stayed in LA. He arrived in Israel on October 2nd, 2023. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder October 6th was a Friday, and because it was a holiday weekend (Saturday was Simchat Torah), Tomer had a reunion on the beach in Tel Aviv with members of his former combat unit and their families. It was a great day, a great celebration that went late. The next morning, beginning at 6:30AM, Peretz's phone started to go crazy. There were sirens. He went with his children to the bomb shelter and was 'trying to explain to my kids what was going on.' As Peretz began to understand the seriousness of what was occurring, he felt that he needed to do something. He called his military friends, but their phones were not responding (which Peretz understood to mean they were on active duty). Not being part of the IDF reserves he could not show up at a military base to report for duty or even volunteer. So, he began trying aid organizations, offering to do anything he could. The first to call him back was ZAKA. Having lived through the second intifada, he was very well aware of Zaka, a volunteer group, often made up of Jewish ultra-orthodox men who are paramedics, who go to sites of violence to collect the bodies, or remains of the dead, so they can be identified and buried according to Jewish law. Peretz dropped off his kids at his parents in Jerusalem and then, early on the morning of October 8th, he was picked up by a group of Zaka volunteers. At that point, terrorists were still thought to be roaming the South of Israel near Gaza, planning further civilian ambushes, murders and kidnappings. As they were driving South, Peretz imagined that he would end up driving the van, getting them food, or doing some clerical or guard duty to allow the Zaka volunteers to do their work. They arrived first at the site of the Nova music festival. The Jewish corpses had already been identified the day before. They collected the bodies of the terrorists and delivered those to the Israeli authorities. Their team was then assigned to go to nearby Kibbutz Be'eri. Peretz was one of the first civilians allowed to enter the kibbutz. There were bodies everywhere. Peretz was asked to pitch in to the team and collect the bodies with them. As mentioned before, the members of Zaka are most often Ultra-Orthodox. Peretz is not observant, and he is covered with tattoos. So, he felt the other members were watching him and Peretz was hyper-conscious of wanting to do a good job. 'I was afraid of being kicked out.' Seeing bodies of all ages and types of people, and the way they were left, more than half shot in the head, many with marks of having been tortured, Peretz could not process what he was seeing. Many of the bodies were left in such strange positions – Peretz paused. 'I don't want to get too graphic here.' He focused on the technical aspect of what he had to do in gathering and transporting the bodies. He didn't allow himself to think or even consider what he was seeing. Peretz worked with Zaka for five full days, going to his parents' home each night. Because he would leave early and return late, he barely saw his kids, and didn't talk to them about what he was doing. He had not told his wife that he was collecting the bodies. But he had taken some pictures of what he saw – the devastation at the Nova site with all the festival detritus, burned out cars, and no people; pictures at Kibbutz Be'eri of bloody mattresses in a children's room, burned out cars, and the bagged bodies Zaka collected. He posted them on social media. One post read, 'Today Zaka pulled out 108 Bodies from Be'eri and there is more.' One of the most affecting posts was a picture of a small garbage bag-like plastic bag that contains a baby's body. His wife saw the posts and understood what he was doing. After his work with Zaka, Peretz gathered his sons and returned to LA. At LAX, when he exited customs, and saw his wife and daughter, he collapsed, crying. The airport security had to help him stand. 'From that moment on,' Peretz told me, 'I got into a very, very, very heavy depression.' Peretz saw no reason to paint, or work, or even get out of bed. How could he create art, lead a business with partners, when, as Peretz put it, 'everything is not important anymore.' He wouldn't leave his stopped answering the phone. In the 20 years since he'd left the army, he'd only experienced PTSD flashbacks on three occasions. Now, he experienced flashbacks every hour. His lowest point was when he woke up at 3AM one night, and he was standing in the middle of the street in front of his house with a 9mm gun, guarding it as if he were on patrol. Peretz understood that he had a problem. He was prescribed all sorts of medications that didn't work. The only thing that woke him up enough to get out of bed was Adderall, which he took for three months but stopped because he was concerned that he would become addicted. Tomer's social media posts about Zaka and the work he did with them at Kibbutz Be'eri made him known not only to various media who wanted to interview him, but also to groups in Israel working with Oct 7 survivors and families. It was only a few months after October 7, when Peretz was contacted about a group of 120 Nova survivors, relatives of the hostages and Israeli first responders, who were coming to Los Angeles. Peretz decided that he would do an art project with them. He gave the group, who were not artists and had no art training, free reign to write, draw, color, however they wanted on a large canvas. They actually filled up three canvases. Afterward, Peretz added some of his own narrative artistic flourishes, such as large letters saying 'The Light Will Win' that seems to emerge from the canvases. For the first time, since October 7, what Peretz was doing had meaning. Rather than dwelling on his interior state, he was helping and guiding others. 'Instead of going in, I was going out,' he said. He had found his reason for being and how to put his artistic talents in the service of others, which had a tremendous healing impact on him. Since then, Peretz has done nothing but host group after group for art projects, work that has become art therapy (with professionals consulting on the project). Some of the projects are whimsical: Since many of the victims and hostages were wearing sweatpants, Tomer has made sweatpants decorated by the art groups, giant versions of which have been displayed on buildings calling attention to the hostages' plight. Zaka. collaborative painting by Tomer Peretz, 2924 Courtesy of Tomer Peretz and Museum of Tolerance Photo by Linda Kasian Photography Peretz has made art with a troop of soldiers who served more than 200 days in Gaza and 70 in Lebanon. They came to LA for vacation because one of them lives here. They had never held a paintbrush and had not been allowed to express themselves. Names float across the canvas with diagrams of areas of battle and an exploded car, and in the center there is a powerful image of a clenched fist, and nearby the words 'wanting to kill our compassion.' Another was made by Tomer and his Zaka team, on which Tomer painted the image of a woman as he found her lying in a strange position but now she seems to be floating. Another group was a special camp for kids, ages 9-14, who October 7 made orphans. Peretz asked them to draw superheroes – many drew Superman but some drew their siblings or their parents who were murdered. Kalia Gisele Littman Courtesy of the artist As word spread of what Peretz had been through and what he was doing now, he was contacted by Kalia Gisele Littman, an Israeli documentarian and photographer who wanted to make a work about his Zaka unit. 'I create art from trauma,' she told me recently. Littman had experienced severe burns as an 8 year old. For her, 'Part of my healing was going back to the place of my trauma and revealing for the first time my scars.' She asked Tomer and his Zaka unit to return to Kibbutz Be'eri almost a year after they had been there. 'We went back to those houses [where] we picked up the bodies,' Tomer said. 'It was so therapeutic for us. It helped us so much to deal with the pain.' She photographed each team member in the ruins of a house that had belonged to a 94 year old Egyptian Jew, taken hostage on October 7, who escaped by throwing himself out of a moving car as they were driving back to Gaza. His home in Be'eri was one of the few where there were no dead bodies for Zaka collect. In photographing them there, Littman said, 'What I wanted to bring is hope. I wanted to bring their resilience because I felt like one year after, what we need is strength.' On the floor below Tomer's exhibit is an installation by Littman together with artists Michael 'Mike' Cannon and Avia Moshe. The photographs are presented in a circular enclosure, along with video and the sounds of nature that Littman recorded at the Kibbutz when they returned, sounds of the natural world going on, interspersed with an official loudspeaker warning that aired in the Kibbutz on October 12, telling survivors to come out of hiding while alerting them that terrorists were still at large. Peretz said that in Israel he also met with some Holocaust survivors, some of whom are artists and that doing so was a conversation about 'How can you live with this for the rest of y our life. How can you create a colorful life, a good life in spite of all the memories?' Peretz once again feels deeply connected to Israel. 'As a Jewish artist, I was never naïve about the harsh realities of collective trauma from war and violence, but there's no question my experience on October 7 and every day after has profoundly affected my transformation as a human and an artist,' said Peretz. 'ART WILL S8T YOU FREE is intended to create a secure and nurturing environment for groups and survivors of terror attacks to explore their emotions and embark on their healing journey.' ART WILL S8T YOU FREE is presented by the Museum of Tolerance in partnership with The Genesis Arts Collective and The 8 Foundation. For tickets and more information click here.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sharon Osbourne Gives Health Update on Husband Ozzy as He Prepares for Final Show (Exclusive)
Sharon Osbourne is giving fans an update on husband Ozzy Osbourne's health ahead of his final show with Black Sabbath this summer. The former The Talk host, 72, opened up about how the entire Osbourne family is preparing for Ozzy's last hurrah, while chatting exclusively with Parade amid her supporting artist Tomer Peretz's new exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. 🎬 🎬 "He is doing really well," Sharon tells Parade. "He's getting himself prepared for his last show, and I tell you, I never, ever thought that at the time we would actually be able to enjoy our lives without traveling the world and working, and that it would end up like this. Never." Black Sabbath's final show with Ozzy, 76, is set to take place on July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, England. All profits from the show will be shared equally between Cure Parkinson's, Birmingham Children's Hospital and Acorns Children's Hospice. Ozzy previously shared his Parkinson's disease diagnosis in 2020. Sharon goes on to detail how the Osbourne family will celebrate the monumental moment in Ozzy's career, telling Parade that "the whole family" — including the couple's five grandchildren, Pearl, Andy, Minnie, Maple and Sidney — will take part in the celebrations. "We are really looking forward to it," Sharon continues, noting that the family spends "a lot of time together" thanks to their proximity to one another. "We all live near each other, and we are very close," she says, "so [we] see each other nearly every day, and it's a blessing." Peretz's ART WILL S8T YOU FREE installation is now open at the Museum of Tolerance in L.A. The collection of works, which also features an interactive installation, is an artistic response to the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, which resulted in the Israel-Hamas war and an uptick in global antisemitism.
Telegraph
15-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Snow White has been hijacked by legions of unemployed dimwits
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.
