Nadav Lapid Made a Film About Israel That Almost No One Wanted to Release

“Sometimes I felt like the protagonist of a Jewish joke,” says Nadav Lapid. “The Jews call you an antisemite. And the antisemites call you a Jew.”

For the Israeli director, the bitter punchline has become reality over the past year as he’s fought to release Yes, his delirious, confrontational satire of post-Oct. 7 Israel, a film that has drawn fire from both nationalist hardliners and pro-Palestinian activists.

Israel’s culture minister, Miki Zohar, has condemned Lapid and the film for supposedly disgracing “our pure and sanctified IDF soldiers,” Lapid notes. Others have criticized the director for taking Israeli state money — Yes was partially financed by the Israeli Film Fund — making him, in their eyes, complicit.