Lapid abused Indian invitation, Israel envoy asks him to apologise

Israel's ambassador to India on Tuesday publicly denounced a filmmaker from his country who called 'The Kashmir Files' a "propaganda" and "vulgar movie" at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. Envoy Naor Gilon also apologized to India in an "open letter" on Twitter, a day after filmmaker Nadav Lapid, who is heading the festival jury, slammed the movie at the closing ceremony of the festival on Monday. Gilon said Lapid abused the Indian invitation to the judges' panel in the "worst way".

An open letter to #NadavLapid following his criticism of #KashmirFiles. It’s not in Hebrew because I wanted our Indian brothers and sisters to be able to understand. It is also relatively long so I’ll give you the bottom line first. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED. Here’s why: pic.twitter.com/8YpSQGMXIR

— Naor Gilon (@NaorGilon) November 29, 2022

 India-Israel ties are very strong and will survive the "damages" inflicted by his remarks, Gilon said in his tweets addressed to Lapid.. BJP leader Khushbu Sundar thanked Gilon and said his words acted like a "balm of comfort". "The pain and trauma depicted in the film is not a display of distorted history but what Kasmiri pundits actually went through," she said.

Nadav Lapid, born in Tel-Aviv, Israel, 1975, studied philosophy at Tel-Aviv University, and Literature in Paris. In 2001, Nadav published a novel entitled "Continua Bailando", and worked as a cinematographer on several documentaries in Israel. He graduated in 2006 from the Sam Spiegel Film School, Jerusalem. He received a Special Jury Prize for his debut feature film, Policeman, at the 2011 Locarno International Film Festival.

The Kashmir Files', directed by Vivek Agnihotri, revolves around the exodus and kil Gilon said he was "extremely hurt" to see the reactions in India that Lapid was doubting 'Schindler's List', a movie based on the Holocaust.ling of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley in 1990. It has been mired in controversy since its release in March, with many calling it a poignant depiction of a tragic period and critics alleging it is loose with facts. Film maker Vivek Agnihotri has said he would stop making movies if anyone could prove that whatever he showed in his film was not true.