November 29,2022: In an open letter, Israeli envoy to India Naor Gilon has slammed his compatriot filmmaker Nadav Lapid for his remarks over the movie "The Kashmir Files". Lapid had termed "The Kashmir Files" as "propaganda movie" and "vulgar" at the closing ceremony of the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Monday night in Goa. He had served as the jury head of the film gala. Lapid said he was "disturbed and shocked" to see the film being screened at the festival.

Targeting Lapid for his comments against "The Kashmir Files", the Israeli envoy said Nadav Lapid has abused the Indian invitation to chair the panel of judges at IFFI Goa, as well as, the trust bestowed on him.

Gilon, in a series of tweets, rebuked Lapid and emphasized how the friendship between the people and the states of India and Israel is very strong and will survive the damage inflicted by him.

Gilon tweeted, "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".  

Gilon said, "The friendship between the people and the states of India and Israel is very strong and will survive the damage you have inflicted. 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,"

"My suggestion. As you vocally did in the past, feel free to use the liberty to sound your criticism of what you dislike in Israel but no need to reflect your frustration on other countries. I'm not sure that you have enough factual basis to make such comparisons. I know I don't," he added.

He further added, "I'm no film expert but I do know that it's insensitive and presumptuous to speak about historic events before deeply studying them and which are an open wound in India because many of the involved are still around and still paying a price".

Speaking as the son of a holocaust survivor, Gilon said he was extremely hurt to see reactions in India to you that are doubting Schindler's List, the Holocaust and worse.

‘The Kashmir Files’, which was released in theatres on March 11, was part of the Indian Panorama Section at IFFI and was screened on November 22.

It stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among others. Former Israeli envoy to India Daniel Carmon also slammed Lapid’s remarks.