Nadav Lapid wanted to sour India-Israel relationship, says former diplomat

Nadav Lapid, the head of the international jury at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, is accused of attempting to hurt relations between India and Israel after criticizing and calling 'The Kashmir Files' "vulgar" and "propaganda", reports ETV Bharat's Chandrakala Choudhary.

New Delhi:Nadav Lapid's comments about the film "The Kashmir Files," which portrayed the dark side of the Pandit exodus from Kashmir in the 1990s after the start of the insurgency in the region, have generated a national debate. Noted foreign policy analyst and seasoned ex-diplomat of India, Ashok Sajjanhar, describes the comments as an attempt to harm India-Israel relations.

Lapid called the film ‘The Kashmir files’ ‘vulgar propaganda.’ For him, the film was inappropriate for an artistic, competitive section of such a prestigious film festival. After Lapid made comments about the movie, which was extensively viewed across the nation and was regarded as a masterpiece by many in the film industry, the Israeli ambassador responded to try to contain the situation.

Taking to Twitter, the Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon in an open letter to Lapid said, “You should be ashamed. 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”. He also wrote that Lapid has abused the Indian invitation to chair the jury in the worst way.

"The friendship between the people and the states of India and Israel is very strong and will survive the damage you have inflicted," Gilon tweeted. Former ambassador Sajjanhar welcomed Gilon's remarks and said "by doing so he wanted to contain the damage"

"Lapid has tried to delve into the internal political affairs of the country. It was an attempt to spoil people to people to ties," Sajjanhar told ETV Bharat.

He said that India and Israel have a strong strategic partnership and share the same position against terrorism. "Both India and Israel share the same sentiments and position as far as countering terrorism is concerned. The message by Israeli envoy Naor Gilon reflects the strong dynamics of India-Israel ties," the ex-diplomat noted.

Amid the controversy over the Israel filmmaker's remarks, India, meanwhile, has also reiterated its "unwavering support to the Palestinian cause" and hoped that talks between Palestine and Israel will resume to find a negotiated solution to the political conflict.

In a letter shared on Twitter by the Representative Office of India to the State of Palestine on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India's ties with the "friendly people of Palestine are rooted in our common history". The PM said that India has always supported the Palestinian people in their pursuit of economic and social development with dignity and self-reliance.