Israel vows to cut funding for national film awards after Palestinian story wins top prize

In a move that has ignited a fierce debate about art, politics, and state funding, the Israeli government has threatened it will cease all financial support for its national Ophir Awards.

The decision comes after the 2025 ceremony, where the top prize for best film was awarded to ‘The Sea,’ a drama critical of Israel’s military occupation and its impact on Palestinians.

The Ophir Awards, often referred to as the Israeli Oscars, are the highest honour in the country’s film industry.

The winner of the best film award traditionally becomes Israel’s official submission for the International Feature Film (IFF) category at the Academy Awards.

‘The Sea,’ written and directed by Israeli filmmaker Shai Carmeli-Pollak, tells the story of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy named Khaled, played by first-time actor Mohammed Gazaoui.

Khaled’s class trip to see the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv is thwarted when Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers deny him entry at a checkpoint.

Defiant, the boy sneaks into Israel and embarks on a solitary journey to reach the water. Simultaneously, his father risks arrest and his livelihood by entering Israel without a permit to search for his missing son.

The film was Tuesday night’s biggest winner. In addition to best film, it earned Carmeli-Pollak the award for best screenplay. Gazaoui won best actor, becoming the youngest recipient of the award in the history of the Ophirs.

The victory, however, was met with swift and severe condemnation from the government.

Miki Zohar, Israel’s minister of culture and sports, released a statement on the social media platform X, calling the ceremony “shameful and disgraceful”.

Zohar argued that the film “defames our heroic soldiers” who are “protecting the integrity of the country” and “fighting to protect us”.

The minister said the funding cut, which will be enacted starting with the 2026 national budget, is a direct response to the awards received by ‘The Sea’.

He characterised the Ophir Awards as representing “less than one percent of the Israeli people” and stated that taxpayer money should be directed to “more important and valuable places”.

“During my tenure – the citizens of Israel will not pay out of their pockets for a disgraceful ceremony that spits on the heroic IDF soldiers,” he wrote.

“After the pro-Palestinian film “The Sea,” which defames our heroic soldiers while they fight to protect us, won the award for best film at the shameful 2025 Ophir Awards ceremony, I decided to stop the funding of the ceremony from the money of Israeli citizens.

“This great absurdity, that Israeli citizens are still paying out of their pockets for the disgraceful Ophir Awards ceremony, which represents less than one percent of the Israeli people – is over. Starting from the 2026 budget, this pathetic ceremony will no longer be funded by taxpayers’ money.

“The citizens of Israel deserve for their tax money to go to more important and valuable places.”

According to local media, it is not yet clear whether Zohar has the authority to defund the awards.

BACKGROUND

The decision comes against a backdrop of intense and ongoing conflict. Since October 2023, Israel has conducted a large-scale military offensive in Gaza following a deadly attack by Hamas militants.

The human cost has been staggering. A recent United Nations commission report estimated that at least 64,964 people have been killed in Gaza, a figure that includes a significant number of women and children.

The same UN report concluded that Israeli authorities and security forces have committed acts amounting to genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, as defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The cited acts include killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about destruction, and imposing measures intended to prevent births. Israel has vehemently rejected these findings.(The Cable)