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Israel's culture minister has warned to axe financial backing for the national film awards after A Palestinian Tale, a story about a young Arab youth, received its top award.

This production, which follows a child from the disputed West Bank who dreams to travel to Tel Aviv to see the ocean for the first time, was awarded top cinematic prize at the Ophir Awards.

“There is no greater insult of the people of Israel than the shameful and out-of-touch annual Ophir Awards event.”

By taking the prize of the best film category at the Ophir awards, The Sea now becomes the country's entry to the global cinema competition at next year's Academy Awards.

Questions Over Funding Threat

It is not yet clear whether the minister is empowered to defund the ceremony, according to local media.

Stars of The Winning Picture won other key awards at the event, including teenage the young actor who took home the best actor award—making him the most youthful winner.

Film Synopsis

In the film, the actor portrays 12-year-old Khaled who is denied entry to the country at an IDF checkpoint during a class trip to the coastal city.

The character then sneaks into the nation and tries to reach the beach while his parent, an unauthorized worker in Israel, tries to find him.

“The production is about every child's right to live in peace, a fundamental entitlement we refuse to abandon.”

Official Response

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

The minister continued: “Under my watch, Israeli citizens won’t contribute financially for a event that shows disrespect of our heroic soldiers.”

Film Community Reaction

Answering Zohar's comments, Assaf Amir stated: “Amid the ongoing conflict in the region takes a terrible toll in death and destruction, the ability to understand the 'different perspective'... offers a glimmer of optimism.”

Amir continued: “In the face of the Israeli government's criticism on Israeli cinema, and the demands from sectors of the global cinema world to boycott us, the selection of The Sea is a powerful and resounding response.”

Background Context

This follows thousands of US film industry professionals signed a vow promising not to collaborate with the country's cinematic bodies that are “implicated in genocide”.

The nation launched its military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on last October, in which approximately over a thousand individuals were died and hundreds others were taken hostage.

No fewer than sixty-five thousand individuals have been killed in military operations since then, nearly half of them minors and females, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Recently, a UN commission of investigation declared that the state had carried out systematic destruction against Palestinian people in the region.

The nation's diplomatic office rejected the report and called it “inaccurate and false”.