Miki Zohar Mocks Filmmakers, Vows to Defund Anti-Israel Films
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- Miki Zohar released a Likud primary campaign video depicting Israeli filmmakers staging 'grotesque' scenes of soldiers abusing Palestinians — stealing a balloon from a child, running over pita bread with a tank, and destroying an elderly woman's plants — while a director urges actors to make soldiers appear 'more evil.'
- Zohar declares in the clip: 'For years, the formula was simple: Defame Israel and receive a check from the government. Not anymore,' vowing his reforms will 'transfer our money from films that Israel haters love to films that Israelis love.'
- The video dropped just days before the Jerusalem Film Festival opens with Moshe Rosenthal's family drama 'Tell Me Everything,' and follows Zohar's earlier move to halt government funding for the Ophir Awards after 'The Sea' — a drama centered on a Palestinian boy — won best picture and was selected as Israel's Oscar submission.
- Israeli filmmakers have long been among the country's most internationally visible cultural exports, with Lapid, Samuel Maoz, Joseph Cedar and Ari Folman winning major festival prizes and Oscar nominations.
- In June, more than 350 film industry figures — including Natalie Portman, Justine Triet and Jacques Audiard — signed an open letter defending Nadav Lapid after he withdrew from the FID Marseille festival under boycott pressure over his jury participation.
- The conflict highlights a pincer for Israeli filmmakers: abroad they're targeted as representatives of Israel even when critical of Netanyahu's government, while at home the same government labels them disloyal and moves to defund their work.
Why it matters: Zohar's escalation is the sharpest signal yet that the Netanyahu government is willing to punish its own internationally celebrated cultural sector over perceived anti-military content, with the Ophir Awards already losing government support after 'The Sea' won best picture. Filmmakers who brought Israel global prestige — Lapid, Maoz, Cedar, Folman — now face defunding at home while simultaneously under boycott pressure abroad.
