Arabic version: فيلم «نازا» يثير اتهامات بالخيانة في إسرائيل

According to ABC News, Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor have faced accusations of treason after their documentary NAZA alleged systematic mass civilian killings by the Israeli army in Gaza. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival and received a 25-minute standing ovation.

The title NAZA comes from an Israeli military acronym based on the Hebrew term “nezek agavi”, meaning collateral damage. The documentary draws on accounts from unidentified Israel Defense Forces soldiers about an AI-assisted system that identifies targets using data from thousands of hacked mobile phones.

Clips from the film, which is not publicly available in any country, have prompted anger in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would promote legislation against what he called the defamation of Israeli soldiers and the state, referring to proposed measures as the NAZA laws. He said in a social media post that citizenship would be revoked from anyone who defamed IDF soldiers internationally.

Protesters gathered outside one director’s parents’ home in Tel Aviv, with one demonstrator describing the film as “an act of treason from within”. Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar said he had asked internal secret-service chief David Zini to examine the film’s sources and the circumstances in which its material was obtained, including in considering citizenship revocation.

IDF chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir described the documentary as an attack on both the military and Israel, and ordered an investigation into the alleged unauthorised disclosure of classified material. Abraham and Szor have not returned to Israel since the Venice screening. NAZA is scheduled to screen at the New York Film Festival next weekend.