Israel Strikes Back at ‘NAZA,’ Calls Film Festival Darling ‘Act of Treason Against the State’

The 24-and-a-half-minute standing ovation — a record — that greeted the premiere of “NAZA” at the Venice Film Festival last week underscores the rapture with which a withering account of the Jewish state at war can expect to be received. Israel, though, is mounting an extraordinary response to the film that has drawn in not only political leaders but increasingly, the Israel Defense Forces.The previous record for an ovation at La Serenissima was set last year by “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” another damning look at Israel. “NAZA,” a documentary whose title comes from a Hebrew acronym for “collateral damage,” features interviews with 24 people identified as Israeli whistleblowers who allege the purported use of AI-powered targeting systems in Gaza to kill Palestinian civilians. The subjects, whose faces and voices are masked, are interviewed on Tel Aviv rooftops at night. The feature won the Special Jury Prize at Venice.On Monday, the IDF’s chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, ordered the military’s top legal official to examine the possibility of taking legal action against the documentary, which alleges mass murder of civilians. He also ordered an investigation into the possibility that classified information was leaked in the making of the movie. The IDF requests a screening of “NAZA” to “enable a substantive, professional, and fact-based discussion.”“According to the reports that have emerged so far, this is not a film criticizing the IDF and is not an attempt to ascertain the truth,” Lieutenant General Zamir reckoned in a statement. “It is based on blood libels, deliberate distortion of reality, and false and serious accusations against IDF soldiers and commanders.”The IDF has denounced as “completely false” at least one claim, featured in a promotional video for “NAZA.” It alleges that the IDF planned a strike against Hamas in which 500 civilian deaths were contemplated. “Our film is showing that the basic targeting unit of the Israeli targeting systems is a family home in Gaza,” one of the film’s directors, Yuval Abraham, told Deadline magazine. The IDF “categorically rejects” that allegation.Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sports, Miki Zohar, calls the documentary “shocking” and accuses its creators — Mr. Abraham and Rachel Szor — of a “betrayal of the state.” Ms. Zohar is investigating stripping Mr. Abraham and Ms. Szor of their citizenship. “The burning self-hatred of the creators, who are willing to harm their homeland to garner applause from antisemites worldwide, is inconceivable and constitutes an act of treason against the state,” she said.Prime Minister Netanyahu’s most formidable challenger in next month’s elections, Gadi Eisenkot, has also condemned the film, declaring that the “choice by Israeli creators to stand on an international stage, present a distorted and one-sided picture, and cast a moral stain on the soldiers who are defending the country is moral blindness, detachment from reality, and harm to the State of Israel at a difficult time.” Channel 12 reports that Israel’s government — including the Foreign Ministry — has been holding intensive meetings to formulate a response to the documentary.Mr. Abraham and Ms. Szor defend “NAZA” by noting that they created it “out of a sense of obligation to use our position as Israeli filmmakers and journalists to examine the systems behind the mass killing of Palestinian civilians for which our country is responsible.” Their previous movie, “No Other Land,” which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary last year, concerned violence in the West Bank. “NAZA” is produced by the Guardian.This is far from the first time that the Venice Film Festival has courted controversy with respect to a subject of Jewish interest. The festival awarded a gold medal to Leni Riefenstahl’s Nazi propaganda film “Triumph of the Will” in 1935. Her “Olympia” won the Mussolini Cup for Best Foreign Film in 1938. “NAZA” currently holds a 100 percent rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website. “No Other Land” carries the same perfect rating.

Israel Strikes Back at ‘NAZA,’ Calls Film Festival Darling ‘Act of Treason Against the State’

Israel Strikes Back at ‘NAZA,’ Calls Film Festival Darling ‘Act of Treason Against the State’

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