Shai Carmeli-Pollak’s drama follows a 12-year-old Palestinian boy living under occupation in the West Bank who risks his life, dodging military checkpoints and the police, to go to the beach for the first time in Tel Aviv.

“There is no greater slap in the face of Israeli citizens than the embarrassing and detached annual Ophir Awards ceremony,” the statement read as reported by Israeli media. Starting next year, Zohar said, the “pathetic ceremony” will “no longer be funded by taxpayers’ money. Under my watch, Israeli citizens will not pay from their pockets for a ceremony that spits in the faces of our heroic soldiers.”

In addition to The Sea, best film contenders included Nadav Lapid’s Yes— a biting satire attacking the moral complicity of Israeli society with the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza — and Natali Braun’s Oxygen about a mother fighting to pull her son out of military service.

In response, Zohar threatened to cut funding for the awards, saying they were promoting Palestinian narratives over national interests.

Yes won best soundtrack and best editing honors on Tuesday night. Oxygen was snubbed.

Muhammad Gazawi, age 13,  who won best actor for his starring role in The Sea, used his acceptance speech to call for all children everywhere “to live and dream without wars.”

His co-star Khalifa Natour, who won best supporting actor, did not attend the ceremony. But a statement on his behalf condemned the ongoing war said: “Following the army’s entry into Gaza and the genocide that frightens me greatly, I cannot find words to describe the magnitude of the horror, and everything else becomes secondary to me. Even cinema and theater.”

Vet director Uri Barbash (Beyond the Walls, Nitza’s Choice), who received a lifetime achievement award at the Ophirs, delivered impassioned speech condemning the actions of Netanyahu’s government and culture minister Zohar as well as the Hollywood boycott. He instead called for solidarity