(JTA) —  A film which Israel’s culture minister said attempts to “undermine” her country and its soldiers’ morality has been named to the shortlist for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Director Samuel Maoz’s film “Foxtrot” made the list Thursday, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Thursday. It features a scene in which Israel Defense Forces soldiers kill a whole family in their car and then cover up the killing. Minister Miri Regev vowed not to give state funding for the film and others like it, which she termed “enemy propaganda.”

The director and lead actor Lior Askenazi defended the film as an “allegorical tale” about what they consider Israeli occupation, adding it does not seriously claim the IDF covers up civilians deaths

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“Foxtrot” is among 92 films that made the initial cut. Five finalists will be selected next month.

The film won the Silver Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival and swept the Ophir awards, Israel’s version of the Oscars, with eight wins, earning it a place as Israel’s entry for the Foreign Language award.

“Foxtrot” will be up against Lebanon’s “The Insult,” about Lebanon’s civil war. French-Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri was briefly detained this year in Lebanon, after arriving in the country to promote the film, for having shot 2013’s ” The Attack,” in Israel. He was eventually cleared by a military tribunal.

“The Insult,” set in the post-war era, centers around a legal dispute between Christian nationalist Tony, played by Lebanese actor and comedian Adel Karam, and Palestinian Yasser, played by Basha.

Israel’s last nominee to make it to the Oscars was Joseph Cedar’s 2011 film “Footnote,” which lost to Iranian film “A Separation.” An Israeli film has not made the shortlist since, AFP reported.

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