Israel’s culture minister cuts funding for prestigious film awards, saying winner defames soldiers

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s culture minister has cut funding for the country’s most prestigious film awards ceremony, saying this year’s best feature winner “spits” on Israeli soldiers.

Miki Zohar said he was taking the step in response to Tuesday’s Ophir Award victory for “The Sea” – a story about a 12-year-old Palestinian boy who sneaks into Israel from the occupied West Bank in a quest to see the sea for the first time in his life. The film will now be Israel's nominee for the Oscars.

In a statement on X, Zohar, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, said he was halting funding for the ceremony due to what he described as the film's pro-Palestinian bent and its depiction of Israeli soldiers.

“On my watch, the citizens of Israel will not pay out of their pockets for a disgraceful ceremony that spits on the heroic Israeli soldiers,” he said. “The citizens of Israel deserve for their tax money to go to more important and valuable places.”

“ No Other Land,” a collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, won this year's Oscar for best documentary. That film looked at efforts by Palestinian activists to prevent the Israeli military from demolishing their community in the West Bank.