Organisers of a Israeli film festival in Britain have hit back at calls for boycott from filmmakers including Ken Loach and Mike Leigh.

In an letter to The Guardian, directors of the Seret festival Anat Koren, Odelia Haroush and Patty Hochmann wrote: “We are surprised that, yet again, there has been a call for a boycott on screening films from Israel here in the UK, from film-makers who believe that they are supporting the 'Palestinian cause'

"Israeli films are distributed globally, and the cinemas they are screened in are delighted and proud to show them to their audiences... we look forward to welcoming film lovers from every community and faith."

They were responding to calls from British filmmakers who called on cinemas to boycott the festival, which takes place this week across six cities in the UK.

Twenty British filmmakers called on participating cinemas to boycott the Seret festival.

"We’re shocked and dismayed to see how many mainstream cinemas – among them Picturehouse and Everyman – are hosting this year’s Israeli film festival, Seret, whose funders and supporters include the Israeli government and a clutch of pro-Israel advocacy organisations," wrote the group in an open letter to The Guardian.

Signatories included anti-Israel activist Ken Loach, who demanded that Labour MPs who demonstrated against antisemitism in Parliament Square be kicked out of the party.

Other signatories included screenwriter and director Mike Leigh.

They wrote: "We cannot understand why cultural institutions continue to behave as if Israel is an ordinary democracy. It is not. Palestinians deserve better than this. UK cinemas should not be hosting Seret.”

Calls to boycott the festival, continued this week with  a handful of protesters demonstrating outside JW3 as it screened a film called The Other Story.

The North London centre was accused of trying to help recruit young people into the Israeli army to “kill children, medics and people with disabilities” by a far-left activist.

Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign and other far-left activists accused the festival of hosting a fundraiser for the IDF by showing the film. 

Gerry Downing, who was expelled from Labour over alleged antisemitism, and a member of the Socialist Fight group said: “We are calling a picket of JW3 which is hosting a fundraiser to recruit young people in the UK to join the Israeli army – the same barbaric army that deliberately kills children, medics, press and people with disabilities.”

A spokesperson for JW3 told the JC: “The Jewish Agency bought all the tickets out for the film and resold them as a fundraiser for the Tzofim, the Israeli Scouts in the UK, not the IDF.”

Writing on Facebook, JW3 Chief Exectuvie Raymond Simonson said: “In case you're wondering what heinous crime we have committed, we are showing an Israeli film, that a partner organisation has now purchased all the tickets to, and has resold them at a mark up to raise money for the Israeli Scouts association.

“You know, the Jewish youth movement with those Israeli teens who go into our Jewish schools and teach our kids Hebrew songs, and run ceremonies for Yom HaZikaron and Yom Rabin across the community.”

According to the Seret festival's directors, this year it highlights films and documentaries which "comment on the plight of ‘the other’ through examining immigration, sexual transition and disability".

They said: “We have chosen films which examine fatherhood and family trauma with heart and soul; which open the lid on suppressed political intrigues, which share religious and spiritual journeys, and which demonstrate the effects of the wars of yesterday and today." 

Mr Simonson called on people to show their support for the festival.

“I'd love for each screening to be completely sold out, showing that boycotts of culture in a Jewish Community Centre have no place,” he said.

The festival runs until May 12 with screenings in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Brighton and Cambridge.