'YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED': Israeli envoy lashes out at IFFI Jury Head's Kashmir Files remark

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid stoked controversy on Monday as he labelled Vivek Agnihotri-directorial 'The Kashmir Files' as "propaganda" and "vulgar" film at the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. 

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the event, IFFI Jury Head Lapid said, "We were all disturbed and shocked by the 15th film, the movie The Kashmir Files. It felt to us like propaganda, a vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival. I feel totally comfortable to share openly these feelings here with you on stage. Since the spirit of having a festival is to accept also a critical discussion which is essential for art and for life".

Israeli Ambassador's open letter to jury head Nadav Lapid

Reacting to this, Naor Gilon, the Ambassador of Israel to India in an open letter lashed out at the filmmaker for his remarks and for abusing his power as one of the panel judges at IFFI Goa. In a series of tweets, the Israeli envoy wrote, "An open letter to Nadav Lapid following his criticism of Kashmir Files. It’s not in Hebrew because I wanted our Indian brothers and sisters to be able to understand. It is also relatively long, so I’ll give you the bottom line first. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED." Here’s why:-

"In Indian culture, they say that a guest is like God. You have abused in the worst way the Indian invitation to chair the panel of judges at IFFI Goa as well as the trust, respect, and warm hospitality they have bestowed on you. Our Indian friends brought Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff from Fauda Official in order to celebrate the love in #India towards Fauda and Israel. I suspect that this is maybe also one of the reasons they invited you as an Israeli and me as the ambassador of Israel".

He further said, "I understand your need in retrospect to “justify” your behaviour, but I can’t understand why you told @ynetnews afterward that the minister and I said on stage that there is a similarity between our countries because “we fight a similar enemy and reside in a bad neighborhood. We did speak about the similarities and the closeness between our countries. The minister spoke about his visits to Israel, it being a Hi-Tech nation, and the potential of combining this with the film industry. I spoke about the fact that we grew up watching Indian films. I also said that we should be humble when India, with such a great film culture, is consuming Israeli content (Fauda and more)".

Drawing a comparison to his life, Naor Gilon further said, "I am no film expert, but I do know that it’s insensitive and presumptuous to speak about historic events before deeply studying them and which are an open wound in India because many of the involved are still around and still paying a price. As a son of a holocaust survivor, I was extremely hurt to see reactions in India to you that are doubting Schindler’s List, the Holocaust, and worse. I unequivocally condemn such statements. There is no justification. It does show the sensitivity of the Kashmir issue here".

He added, "From your interview with Ynet the connection you make between your criticism of KashmirFiles and your dislike of what is happening in Israeli politics was quite evident. My suggestion. As you vocally did in the past, feel free to use the liberty to sound your criticism of what you dislike in Israel but no need to reflect your frustration on other countries. I am not sure that you have enough factual basis to make such comparisons. I know I don’t".

As he concluded his letter, the Israeli envoy stated, "You will go back to Israel thinking that you are bold and “made a statement”. We, the representatives of Israel, would stay here. You should see our DM boxes following your “bravery” and what implications it may have on the team under my responsibility. The friendship between the people and the states of India and Israel is very strong and will survive the damage you have inflicted. As a human being, I feel ashamed and want to apologize to our hosts for the bad manner in which we repaid them for their generosity and friendship".

IFFI Board terms Israeli filmmaker's remark "personal opinion"

In response to Nadav Lapid's remark, the jury board of the 53rd International Film Festival in Goa today distanced itself from termed his statement as his "personal opinion". Sudipto Sen, the Indian member of the board shared the official statement on his Twitter and stated, "Whatever has been said by IFFI 2022 Jury chairman Mr Nadav about the film Kashmir Files was completely his personal opinion".

He added, "In the official presentation of the Jury Board to the Festival Director and in the official Press Conference, where we 4 juries were present and interacted with the press, we never mentioned anything about our likes or dislikes. Both were our official collective opinion. As a juror, we are assigned to judge the technical, aesthetic quality, and socio-cultural relevance of the film. We don't indulge in any kind of political comments on any film and if it is done, it is completely in a personal capacity," the statement read.

The Kasmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri shared a cryptic note on Twitter, mentioning how "Truth is the most dangerous thing" which leads many on the path of lying.