The Academy of Motion Picture Arts decided not to invite politicians to award the "Ophir" prize.

Award "Ofir" since 1990 is awarded for the best achievements in Israeli cinema. According to ITV channel 2, an invitation to the Minister of Culture Miri Regev to attend the award ceremony this year on 19 September was first sent, but then the Academy representatives for two weeks tried to meet with the minister to agree that there was nothing scandalous in her speech .

In particular, Regev was asked not to mention in the speech the Israeli film "Foxtrot", recently received one of the highest awards of the Venice Festival. Regev considers this film a slander against the Israeli army. For all the requests of filmmakers about the meeting, Regev answered: "You will not tell me anything. I will come on my terms and say what I want. "

As a result, the invitation to Regev was annulled, which caused a mixed reaction in the Academy of Cinematography itself, where many consider the actual boycott declared to the minister "a cession of aggression", the same aggressiveness that overshadowed the ceremony last year. Then Regev left the room in protest against the fact that during the awarding the song on the verses of the Palestinian poet Mahmud Dervish, known anti-Israeli motives in the work, was sounded.

The Minister of Culture called the decision of the Academy "cowardly" and "undemocratic."