Nadav Lapid Says Marseille Row Was About Politics, Not Antisemitism

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid has spoken at length for the first time about the backlash that forced him to leave the jury of the Marseille International Film Festival after protest from pro-Palestinian filmmakers. In an interview with Variety, Lapid said he was startled by the wave of support he received from hundreds of film figures, including Natalie Portman, Justine Triet and Jacques Audiard, but argued that the debate around the episode distracted from the underlying issues. “I never felt like a victim,” he said.

Lapid, who has lived in France in recent years, accused major cultural institutions and international festivals of becoming increasingly reluctant to finance or screen films about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while still backing dissident artists from other countries. He said he did not see the boycott against him as antisemitism, describing it instead as a mindset shaped by shock at the war, the absence of political sanctions on Israel and a search for moral purity. He also said the campaign backfired by shifting attention away from the war in Gaza.

He said the Marseille festival staff later contacted him and even joined a support letter, explaining that they were trying to gauge the political pressure and were caught between competing dangers. Lapid dismissed the idea that the central issue was whether the festival should stage his cancelled masterclass again or rescreen his film, saying the real question was what lessons should be drawn. “The lesson is that the urgent issue is the disaster now unfolding in Palestine, Israel and Gaza, and the rise of the far right almost everywhere,” he said.

Lapid also discussed his film Yes, saying it did not enter Cannes’ official lineup but played in a parallel section, and that French and European funding bodies were often uneasy about its politics. He said he has long supported sanctions on Israel, has used terms such as apartheid and genocide, and has taken part in protests in the territories. Still, he said he rejects turning the dispute into a battle over moral purity. He added that Israel is heading toward “fascization,” warned its artistic freedom is not guaranteed, and said culture institutions abroad were often the ones most preoccupied with policing how Israel is portrayed.