A group of citizens on Monday urged the National Film Development Corporation of India to cancel a festival showcasing Israeli films, scheduled to be held in Mumbai on Wednesday and Thursday at the National Museum of Indian Cinema.

“This screening by the NFDC [National Film Development Corporation] is shamefully being held at a time, when the entire world is witness to Israeli war crimes, the ongoing Holocaust and the genocide in Gaza, and across all of Palestine,” the group said in a statement.

The statement’s signatories include actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak, freedom fighter GG Parikh, documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7 after Palestinian militant group Hamas invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking over 200 hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza. The attacks have killed more than 40,774 persons, including over 15,000 children.

On Monday, the group said that the management of the National Film Development Corporation and the National Museum of Indian Cinema should be aware that the Indian government has recognised the Palestinian state.

“Thus, at this moment in our collective human history, for the NFDC and the NMIC to be screening Israeli films is totally immoral, unethical, unconscionable, and a travesty of justice to say the least,” it said.

“We, the undersigned, have thus launched a nationwide, as well as an international campaign demanding that the NFDC and the NMIC refrain from any screening of Israeli films until Israel complies with International law, as do other civilised nations,” it said.

The statement added that Israeli war crimes have been documented and presented by a panel of South African Human Rights Lawyers, at the International Criminal Court of Justice.

“In both instances the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court have recognised the fact that Israel is guilty of genocide,” it said. “Thus the ICC has announced that it will issue an arrest warrant against Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, who must stand trial for war crimes.”

“In the presence of such damning evidence, the NFDC must immediately cancel the so-called Israel Film Festival,” the group said.

Also read: When memory becomes resistance: How artists and speakers are bearing witness to the assault on Gaza