Blaming the failure of Snow White on Rachel Zegler won’t hide the fact that Hollywood viewers know about its pro-Israel double standards, says Tariq Raouf.

After Disney’s live-action Snow White flopped at the box office, industry “insiders,” journalists, and executives pushed the narrative that Rachel Zegler’s support for Palestine was to blame for its failure.

However, the industry’s bitter response has only offered a glimpse into Hollywood’s future: a massive reckoning is on the horizon, and it’s set to be the spectacle of the century.

Four days after the release of Snow White, industry trade magazine, Variety, published a hit piece designed to credit the film’s failure to its pro-Palestinian starlett and attempt to paint the real-life evil villain, Gal Gadot, as a victim, going so far as to say Gadot had to hire extra security for her safety.

Expectedly, the piece fails to mention Gadot’s time in the Israel Defense Forces, a genocidal enterprise that Gadot still publically supports, or her history of hasbara — Israel’s insidious ‘public diplomacy’ initiative — to discredit and silence Palestinian voices.

Since Variety published its Israeli propaganda piece, a handful of articles came out in defense of Rachel Zegler, pointing out that critic reviews say she is the best part of the film, the actress has always been held to a double standard, and that the film is, put simply, awful.

Yet, none of these pieces goes far enough to explain exactly why the industry is fighting so hard to paint her, and not Gadot, as the reason for its failure. It’s a desperate effort to salvage Israel’s image after the massive PR disaster caused by the government’s genocidal actions in Gaza and its ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.

Israel’s efforts to erase Palestine and its people have, once again, revealed the truth: it is Israel, not the Palestinians, who are the perpetrators. The country has spent literally billions of dollars trying to conceal this reality.

And Israel’s attempt to paint themselves as the victim is almost as bad as Gal Gadot’s acting. Almost.

No matter how hard its defenders try to defend it, reports of Israel’s military kidnapping children, raping prisoners, and murdering civilians go back decades, and the government’s latest attack on Gaza has just revealed to the world what Palestinians have been experiencing all along.

The question isn’t about whether or not Israel is guilty of war crimes — of which it undeniably is — but when will the world finally start holding them accountable? According to the latest Hollywood flubs, it seems that its audiences are ahead of the executives on this one.

The problem isn’t Rachel Zegler, it’s Hollywood

Snow White isn’t the first Hollywood blockbuster starring an Israeli actress to fail this year. Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World was the first major franchise to find out just how much of a distaste the general public has for anything Israeli right now.

The film made waves when it announced that it would bring a racist, Israeli superhero from the 80s to life and cast another former Israeli army soldier in that role. Despite attempts to alter the character so she wasn’t as problematic as her origin, the new film also bombed.

One could argue that these films failed because audiences are simply fed up with remakes and sequels. And while that’s definitely part of it, what these flops really highlight is that Hollywood is bound to face the consequences of openly supporting a country engaged in one of the most horrific atrocities against humanity — primarily children — in our lifetime. Movies that continue to back the Israeli narrative will ultimately lose audiences, revenue, and respect.

The industry is working hard to reward Gadot and punish Rachel Zegler. In true Palestinian fashion, this mirrors our reality: we are murdered, abused, ignored, and mistreated, while those who kill our children, destroy our land, and steal our homes are celebrated and praised.

What Rachel Zegler is experiencing is just a glimpse of the racist, dehumanising rhetoric that Palestinians and our allies endure daily. Thankfully, regardless of whether industry executives and trade publications stand with us, the boycotts of these films have shown them who truly holds the power.

However the film industry, like every other, is all about money. Creativity goes out of the window as networks and studios rely on pre-existing intellectual property, just so they can avert risks.

Ironically, the unchecked and biased support for Israel is about to become their biggest risk yet. The reason executives are so enraged isn’t just because Rachel Zegler tweeted about Palestine and refused to remove it.

They’re not parading Gadot on every platform simply to promote the movie. They are desperate to hold onto the narrative that Israel is the victim, that the genocide is justified, and that they are the ones in the right.

With the widespread boycotts and the failures of these two major blockbusters, audiences have reminded these executives, who enable genocide, that no matter how large their budgets, how impressive their casts are, or how hard they try to hide the truth, it won’t matter.

The true power behind Hollywood’s success lies with the audiences, and whether they want to admit it or not, the world is falling in love with Palestine and finally seeing Israel for the monster it is.

Instead of wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars defending Israel, denying the genocide, and portraying Israeli soldiers as victims, perhaps Hollywood should focus its energy on confronting the truth: Israel has always been a violent, racist regime guilty of apartheid.

Until then, Hollywood will continue bleeding cash as audiences have made it clear that there is no place for celebrating those who support genocide.