Israel apologies after Kashmir Files condemned by Israeli filmmaker at IFFI

Israel’s ambassador to India apologized to India in an “open letter” on Twitter, after a filmmaker from his country called the controversial movie ‘The Kashmir Files’ a “propaganda” and “vulgar movie” at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.

‘The Kashmir Files’, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, was praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hindu nationalist followers while was flagged by critics and Muslim groups for its hatred towards Muslims.

IFFI Jury head and Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid had Monday said the jurors at the film festival were “disturbed and shocked” by ‘The Kashmir Files’. “That felt to us like a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival,” he said.

While the filmmaker’s remarks were hailed by many including political opponents to Hindutva, the Israel came down heavily on filmmaker.

“An open letter to #NadavLapid following his criticism of #KashmirFiles. 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,” tweeted Gilon this morning.

“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 @IFFIGoa as well as the trust, respect and warm hospitality they have bestowed on you,” he added.

“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,” said the envoy.