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‘Lapid should apologise’: Israeli envoy Naor Gilon on Kashmir Files comments row
Lapid triggered a major controversy by describing “The Kashmir Files” as “propaganda” and a “vulgar” film that was “inappropriate for an artistic, competitive section of such a prestigious film festival”
Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon on Tuesday lashed out at Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, who headed the jury at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) for describing “The Kashmir Files” as a “vulgar movie”, and said Lapid should apologise to his hosts in the country.
Lapid triggered a major controversy on Monday by describing “The Kashmir Files”, based on the killing of Kashmiri Pandits during an upsurge in militancy in the Kashmir Valley in the 1990s and the community’s exodus from the region, as “propaganda” and a “vulgar” film that was “inappropriate for an artistic, competitive section of such a prestigious film festival”.
The film directed by Vivek Agnihotri and starring Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi was featured in the Panorama section of IFFI last week.
Gilon took to Twitter on Tuesday to criticise Lapid’s stance and said he “should be ashamed”. Gilon also demanded that the Israeli filmmaker should apologise.
“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,” Gilon said in a string of tweets.
Gilon described his tweets as an “open letter” to Lapid following his criticism of “The Kashmir Files”. He added, “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.”
He added, “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.”
The envoy contended Lapid had abused the invitation extended to him to be part of the jury at IFFI.
“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 said.
Gilon also pointed to the important Israeli presence at this year’s IFFI – including members of the cast and the makers of the streaming serial “Fauda”, which has become popular in India.
“Our Indian friends brought @lioraz and @issacharoff from @FaudaOfficial 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 said.
Gilon further contended that Lapid’s remarks may have been influenced by the filmmaker’s views on Israeli politics. He pointed in this context to an interview by Lapid with Israeli news website Ynet.
“From your interview to Ynet the connection you make between your criticism of #KashmirFiles and your dislike to what is happening in Israeli politics was quite evident,” he said.
“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’m not sure that you have enough factual basis to make such comparisons. I know I don’t.”
“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”, he wrote.
Gilon also questioned Lapid’s remarks during the interview with Ynet about the Israeli envoy and the Indian information and broadcasting minister saying “on stage that there is similarity between our countries because ‘we fight a similar enemy and reside in a bad neighborhood’”.
The envoy added: “We did speak about the similarities and 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).
“I’m 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.”
The envoy received both support and criticism for his remarks on Twitter.
