India cancels Israeli film festival after protests against Gaza ‘genocide’

India’s national film promotion agency has cancelled a film festival aimed at showcasing Israeli productions following an online petition that highlighted the Zionist state’s “war crimes” and “genocide” in Gaza and “across all of Palestine”.

The petition, signed by some of India’s most influential film stars and directors, received widespread support from hundreds of artists, activists and concerned citizens.

The festival was scheduled to run through August 21 and 22.

The India Palestine Solidarity Forum, an informal group of left-leaning citizens, initiated the petition on Monday. The online appeal went viral within hours, forcing the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) to cancel the Israeli movie festival in Mumbai.

The petition to call off the festival—scheduled to take place at the National Museum of Indian Cinema —was signed by more than a thousand people, including Bollywood’s veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah and author Tushar Arun Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.

“This screening by the NFDC is shamefully being held at a time when the entire world is witnessing Israeli war crimes, the ongoing Holocaust and the genocide in Gaza, and across all of Palestine,” the petition said.

“The genocide is occurring live, in real time, and the entire world is witness to this inhuman criminal monstrosity, as we watch aghast on our mobiles and TV screens,” it added.

Even though India has traditionally supported a negotiated two-state solution, its stance towards Israel has changed demonstrably under the premiership of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014.

The Indian government has been relatively quiet on the plight of Palestinians, even though Israel has killed more than 40,000 people, mostly women and children, in its war on Gaza in the last ten months.

Analysts have attributed the pro-Israel shift in New Delhi’s diplomatic stance to its growing ties with Tel Aviv in the fields of defence, agriculture, science and trade.

With the Indian right-wing gaining a stronger foothold in national affairs under the Modi government, pro-Israel factions in New Delhi have pushed a narrative that ancient Jewish and Hindu civilisations in the two countries have been derailed by outsiders, a euphemism used to denote Muslims.

While urging the NFDC to cancel the festival, the petition reminded the government-backed agency that Israel has murdered thousands of people in Gaza, which “clearly constitutes a Holocaust, no less”.

Israeli filmmakers and artists have faced an “escalating cultural boycott” globally after October 7. For example, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in April that “nearly all major film festivals” had been compelled to factor in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The intensity of protests is such that any involvement of Israeli films or Israeli artists in a festival harbours the potential for a scandal.