Israel threatens the National Film Awards after Palestinian history won the first prize

The Israeli Minister of Culture threatened to finance the country’s National Awards from the country after the sea, a story on a 12 -year -old Palestinian boy, won his first prize.

The film, which follows a boy from the occupied West Bank who wants to go to Tel Aviv to see the sea for the first time, won the best film at the Ophir Awards – the equivalent of Israel of the Oscars.

In a press release on X, Miki Zohar said: “There is no greater slap in the face of Israeli citizens than the annual annual and detached annual ceremony.”

As a winner of the best category of films at the Ophir Awards, the sea is now becoming the entry of Israel in the International Oscar Film category of next year.

It is not yet clear if Zohar has the power to finance prices, according to local media.

Stars of the SEA won other major prizes at the award ceremony, including the price of the best actor for Muhammad Gazawi, 13, the youngest winner of all time.

In the film, Gazawi plays Khaled, 12, who is denied the entry into Israel during a checkpoint of the Israel Defense Forces (FDI) during a class trip to Tel Aviv.

Khaled then sneaned in Israel and tries to reach the sea while his father, an undocumented worker in Israel, tries to find him.

During the ceremony, the producer of the film Baher Agbariya said that the film concerned “the right of each child to live in peace, a basic right that we will not give up”.

But in his declaration, Zohar described the Ophir Awards as “embarrassing and detached”.

He added: “Under my watch, Israeli citizens will not pay their pockets for a ceremony that spits in the faces of our heroic soldiers.”

Responding to the comments of Zohar, Assaf Amir, president of the Israeli cinema and television academy, said: “While the endless war in Gaza has a terrible impact in death and destruction, the ability to see” the other “… gives a little hope.”

Amir added: “Faced with attacks by the Israeli government against Israeli cinema and culture, and the calls of certain parts of the international cinematographic community to boycott us, the selection of the sea is a powerful and resounding response.”

This occurs after thousands of Hollywood industry professionals have signed a commitment by promising not to work with Israeli cinematographic institutions which are “involved in the genocide”.

Israel launched his war in Gaza in response to the attack led by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 65,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since then, almost half of women and children, according to the Ministry of Health managed by Gaza.

On Tuesday, a United Nations a commission of inquiry said that Israel had committed a genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel rejected the report and denounced it as “distorted and false”.