Israeli envoy slams Nadav Lapid for criticising 'The Kashmir Files' at IFFI, says no justification for such statements

A day after Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid criticised Hindi film The Kashmir Files at IFFI the countrys envoy to India Naor Gilon slammed him saying he should be ashamed as he had abused in the worst way the Indian invitation to him to chair the panel of judges at the film festivalGilons remarks in an open letter to Lapid came after the jury head of the 53rd International Film Festival of India IFFI described The Kashmir Files as propaganda and vulgarIn his speech at the closing ceremony of IFFI 2022 Lapid said on Monday that he was disturbed and shocked to see the film being screened at the film festivalIn the open letter put out in a series of tweets Gilon said Lapid should be ashamed and gave reasons for itIn Indian culture they say that a guest is like God You Lapid 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 youAlso Read Shameful says Anupam Kher reacting to IFFI Jury heads remarks on The Kashmir FilesAs a son of a holocaust survivor I was extremely hurt to see reactions in India to you that are doubting Schindlers 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 saidThe envoy said Indian friends brought Fauda cocreators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff in order to celebrate the love in India towards the Israeli series and IsraelI suspect that this maybe also one of the reasons they invited you as an Israeli and me as the ambassador of Israel Gilon saidI understand your need in retrospect to justify your behaviour but I cant understand why you told Israeli Ynet news afterwards that the minister and I said on stage that there is similarity between our countries because we fight a similar enemy and reside in a bad neighbourhood Gilon said in his open letter to LapidWe did speak about the similarities and closeness between our countries The minister spoke about his visits to Israel it being a HiTech nation and the potential of combining this with the film industry I spoke about the fact that we grew up watching Indian films the envoy saidGilon also said that Israelis should be humble when India with such a great film culture is consuming Israeli contentIm no film expert but I do know that its 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 the envoy said alluding to Lapids criticism of The Kashmir FilesCiting an interview to Ynet by Lapid Gilon said the connection the filmmaker makes between his criticism of The Kashmir Files and his dislike to what is happening in Israeli politics was quite evidentMy 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 Im not sure that you have enough factual basis to make such comparisons he saidYou 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 Gilon saidThe friendship between the people and the states of India and Israel is very strong and will survive the damage youve inflicted Gilon said to LapidAs 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 the Israeli envoy saidHe said he did not write the letter in Hebrew because he wanted Indians to be able to understandIn his remarks at the closing ceremony of IFFI Lapid had said All of us were disturbed and shocked by the movie The Kashmir Files It felt to us like a propaganda and vulgar movie that was inappropriate for an artistic and competitive section of such a prestigious film festivalI feel comfortable to openly share this feeling with you since the spirit of the festival can truly accept critical discussion which is essential for art and life Lapid had saidThe Kashmir Files which was released in theatres on March 11 was part of the Indian Panorama Section at IFFI and was screened on November 22It stars Anupam Kher Darshan Kumar Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among othersFormer Israeli envoy to India Daniel Carmon also slammed Lapids remarksThe unfortunate comment by Lapid reflects his own and only his own views and total lack of basic sensitivity or knowledge of what he talked about Carmon saidAmbassador Gilons excellent open letter this morning to Lapid speaks for all of us and reflects our true feelings he saidAs the Ambassador saidthe friendship between the people amp the states of India amp Israel is very strong and will survive the damage the film maker has inflicted Carmon tweetedHe Lapid definitely should apologize for his revolting personal remarks on historical facts without any sensitivity not really knowing what he was talking aboutI strongly urge our many friends in India not to be drawn by one persons remarks to doubting the facts about the Holocaust Carmon saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever