A boycott of the Shomron Cinema Fund was signed by close to 140 left-wing Israeli filmmakers according to a report by Haaretz, adding that they will not apply to the fund for budgets, will not participate in its projects, and will not seek employment in the organization.

The filmmakers Avi Mograbi, Rachel Leah Jones, Liran Atzmor, Yasmine Kini, and Noam Sheizaf released a public letter accusing the fund operating in Samaria of being "part of the apartheid mechanism." The letter was also signed by Ari Pullman, Shira Geffen, Hagai Levi, Keren Yedaya, Ran Tal, and Nadav Lapid, who urged the management of the Israeli Film Academy to refuse to hold the Ophir Awards ceremony, commonly referred to as the Israeli Oscars, in Samaria in the future. 

Read more: "Israel's" dangerous weapon: Normalization through arts and culture

The filmmakers stated, "This political foundation is headed by Aster Alush, the spokesperson of the Samaria Regional Council, and Yossi Dagan, the chairman of the Samaria Regional Council. The foundation and the festival invite Israeli artists to take an active part in whitewashing the occupation in exchange for financial support and prizes."

The letter's objective is to boycott the Shomron Fund and not to associate with it, "not in greenhouses, not in lectures, and not in filmmaking. We will not agree to hold an Ophir Awards ceremony in an area subject to a military regime. We call on the Israel Academy of Film and Television, its members and leaders, not to turn Israeli cinema into another tool to oppress the Palestinian people."

Approximately two months ago, the Shomron Film Festival was held for the first time, with the opening ceremony of the festival in "Ariel" attended by Minister of Culture Hili Trooper and former Minister Miri Regev who expressed hope that the Ophir Award ceremony will be held in Samaria in the future. Surprisingly, this comes amid a letter signed by over 200 American celebrities against boycotting an Israeli film festival in October 2021.

One of the tools "Israel" utilizes to conceal its human rights abuses and oppression of Palestinians, just as the Saudi government has done to cover up its own crimes against humanity against the Yemeni people for the past 8 years, is the entertainment industry. In one instance, former IOF member, Gal Gadot, who at one point "prayed for her Israeli people," has been making it big in Hollywood and on a global scale, which is not surprising. Her movies, such as the latest "Death on the Nile", have been banned in MENA countries such as Tunisia and Lebanon.

Israeli belligerence cannot be whitewashed or entertainment-washed - it is there to remain, no matter how gold-dripped and bleached it is.

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