h/t Scandinavian Anti-semitism Watch
Snorri Ásmundsson is an Icelandic artist who "works with social taboos of politics, sex and religion". Antisemitism, however, isn't taboo in Iceland, it's a cultural norm.
In any case, this past July Snorri posted a clip of 'Hatikva', the Israeli national anthem. The clip is full of antisemitic imagery, but as we will see below, Snorri is not stupid, and he has found a way to protect himself from accusations of antisemitism: Throw in a couple of Down's Syndrome actors and dress up as Israel's most famous trans woman singer, Dana International.
Haukur Már Helgason reviewed the clip and noted its antisemitic undertones:
The video starts with a close-up of a woman wearing a hijab or a burqa, a black veil covering half her face. She is then grabbed and pulled out of the frame by a man wearing the Jewish star of David over his upper arm.
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| Snorri showing evil Zionist attacking defenseless Muslim woman |
Consequently, the artist, Snorri, appears in drag: red lipstick, eye shadow, tight shiny dress, black feathers extending from its back, over the artist’s head. Snorri has explained the outfit as a reference to Dana International, the drag queen who, as Israel’s representative, won the Eurovision song contest in 1998.
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Snorri's gotcha - If you claim it's antisemitism,
you're insulting trans women
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The artist is surrounded by characters, each of which is defined by an apparently obvious reference to nationality: two men with downs-syndrome are dressed up in what seems to be the traditional black-and-white clothing of Hasidic Jews, including hats and the traditional locks of hair.
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| Snorri's gotcha - If you claim it's antisemitism, you're insulting Down's Syndrome people |
He then spoke with Snorri about it:
It felt as if Snorri had dodged the question of anti-Semitism, rather than answer it. But I couldn’t get rid of it. Looking at the video, it is just about all I see.
(...)
Q: [T]wo of the actors have Downs-syndrome, don’t they?
A :‘Yes.’
Q: And both of them are dressed as Hasidic Jews?
A: ‘Yes.’
Q: And now, if I understand correctly your method in this piece, you put me up against a wall, where I want to ask if you, by this, intend to belittle Jews —but if I ask you that, it will sound as if I am belittling people with Downs-syndrome.
A: ‘That’s exactly it. That’s precisely the point,’ said Snorri and laughed.
Q: So you consider that to be a fair description of the trick you play there?
A: ‘I partly work with, yes, I am disrupting something there. I expected this question. Saw it coming. But you sort of answered the question for me as well. Then you would be belittling them, you see. I knew in advance that this was what I’m putting on the table, you know.’
(...)
After going here and there through the first part of the interview, Snorri finally confirmed to have, in his video to the song Hatikvah, aimed at belittling Jews in a way that would make it as hard as possible for others to put their fingers on; and that he had, for that sake, employed actors with Downs-syndrome, as a sort of moral human shield, teflon-coating against possible criticism.
In his interview Snorri also says that his friends were concerned for his life when he started making this clip. Why? Where they afraid of the evil Israelis or the evil Jews?
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