
Tel Aviv, Israel -September 18, 2025
Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar has threatened to withdraw government funding from the prestigious Ophir Awards, the country’s equivalent of the Oscars, following the victory of a film centering on a Palestinian boy’s dream amid the ongoing conflict.
The film The Sea, which depicts a 12-year-old Palestinian boy from the occupied West Bank yearning to visit the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv, clinched the Best Film award at the recent ceremony, along with several other top honors.
The lead actor, 13-year-old Muhammad Gazawi, who portrayed the protagonist Khaled, became the youngest winner in Ophir history for Best Actor. As the top prize recipient, The Sea has been selected as Israel’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Academy Awards.
Zohar’s backlash stemmed from the film’s subject matter, which he described as an “embarrassing and detached” event that “spits in the faces of our heroic soldiers.” He argued that Israeli citizens should not fund such an outcome, amid heightened sensitivities from the war in Gaza, which Israel launched after a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Gaza’s health ministry reports over 65,000 Palestinian deaths nearly half women and children in Israeli operations since then.
Defending the jury’s decision, Assaf Amir, chair of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, emphasized the film’s message of hope. “As the never-ending war in Gaza takes a terrible toll in death and destruction, the ability to see the ‘other’… gives small hope,” Amir said.
Producer Baher Agbariya, who accepted the award, added that the story underscores “every child’s right to live in peace, a basic right we will not give up on.”
The controversy unfolds against a backdrop of international criticism, including a recent UN report accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza which Israel dismissed as “distorted and false” and pledges from Hollywood professionals to boycott Israeli film institutions perceived as complicit.
Local media reports question Zohar’s legal authority to enact the funding cut, leaving the future of the awards uncertain.
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