The “NAZA” documentary by two Israeli filmmakers, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, has stirred an international antisemitic uproar and reignited the wave of accusations against Israel and the IDF over the war in the Gaza Strip after winning the Jury Prize at the closing ceremony of the 83rd Venice Film Festival on the first day of Rosh Hashanah.

“NAZA” is an acronym for the Hebrew words “נזק אגבי” – collateral damage. The documentary makes libelous accusations against Israel, claiming that the IDF deliberately calculated its strikes in Gaza during the war to kill as many civilians as possible using an AI-assisted tool called the “Lavender” system. One interviewee claimed that the IDF approved a strike that was estimated to kill 500 civilians, a claim the IDF firmly denies.

The documentary, which was filmed on Tel Aviv rooftops during the war in Gaza, features interviews with what it claims are 24 IDF soldiers purportedly serving in Unit 8200.

International reviews of the film have already described it as evidence of Israel’s war crimes and worse.

The IDF on Monday issued a firm rejection of the allegations in the documentary, responding specifically on X to the clip of a soldier claiming a strike was approved that would kill 500 civilians as “completely false.”

“The IDF has never planned, approved, or carried out a strike in Gaza in which 500 civilians or anything near that number were anticipated to be killed. Nor was any credible claim raised throughout the war suggesting that an IDF strike had caused anything near that number of fatalities.

“The filmmakers couldn’t possibly verify this claim. There is no real supporting evidence, and yet they published it anyway. Additionally, nothing about the interviewee- not his service nor his role can be independently checked and verified.

“No such strike was ever planned, approved, or carried out, yet this is the claim the filmmakers chose to promote their movie with. Judge the rest accordingly.”

In its full response, the IDF spokesperson said that the film relies on anonymous testimony from people whose military service or involvement in the incidents in question is unclear. The statement added that the testimonies contain incorrect legal terminology and address strategic issues beyond the knowledge of junior soldiers. The military also rejected allegations that artificial intelligence is used to select targets, clarifying that decisions are made exclusively by human officials, in accordance with international law and while making efforts to minimize harm to uninvolved civilians whom Hamas uses as human shields.

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar accused Abraham and Szor of treason and resolved to strip them of their citizenship.

“Anyone who acts against the State of Israel during wartime cannot continue to hold Israeli citizenship,” he wrote on X. “This morning, I contacted the director general of the Population Authority and the director general of the Interior Ministry and asked them to consider revoking the Israeli citizenship of the creators of the anti-Israel film NAZA for breaching their duty of loyalty to the state and collaborating with the enemy, and to investigate how the materials were obtained, who is behind them, and whether acts were committed in obtaining or publishing them that could aid the enemy during wartime. Freedom of expression is not a license to betray the country. Anyone who acts against Israel during wartime should know that there will be a price.”

Yashar! chairman Gadi Eisenkot said: “For nearly three years, IDF soldiers and commanders have been waging an extraordinarily difficult and just war against a cruel enemy that massacred, raped and abducted children, women and men on the morning of October 7. The decision by Israeli filmmakers to stand on an international stage, present a distorted and one-sided picture, and cast moral aspersions on the soldiers defending our home reflects moral blindness and detachment from reality and harms the State of Israel at a difficult time. Criticism is legitimate in a democratic society, but there is a vast gulf between criticism and tarnishing the reputations of our soldiers to reap applause at festivals abroad.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)