A political firestorm has erupted after it emerged that Eliran Eliyahu, slated for a Knesset seat on Gadi Eisenkot's party list, defended the creators of an antisemitic documentary following its win at an international film festival.
Eliyahu, who chairs the Israeli Directors Guild, issued a statement of support for Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor after their British-produced documentary NAZA won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
The film portrays what it describes as "widespread killing" of Palestinian civilians in Gaza by Israel during the Iron Swords War, featuring testimony from Israelis claiming the deaths constitute deliberate and systematic mass killing stemming from what the filmmakers call dehumanization of Palestinians.
The Directors Guild under Eliyahu's leadership released a statement backing Abraham and Szor following news of their latest film's award, mirroring the guild's support a year and a half ago for the pro-Palestinian propaganda film "No Other Land."
Likud officials said both films were designed "to slander Israel's heroic IDF soldiers, level blood libels against them, and portray them as war criminals."
"Eliran's placement on Eisenkot's party list proves that the slate includes not just leftists, but extreme and delusional leftists," the party charged.
