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After Accolades Abroad, an Israeli Documentary Faces a Backlash at Home

The film “NAZA” investigates the killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces in Gaza. Israel’s culture minister has suggested revoking the directors’ citizenship.

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Reporting from Jerusalem

Published Sept. 14, 2026Updated Sept. 16, 2026Leer en español

When “NAZA,” a documentary about the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in Gaza, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last week, the Israeli directors received a 25-minute standing ovation. The film also won the Special Jury Prize.

But in Israel, the film has whipped up a storm of official criticism, as well as pushback from the military, which rarely weighs in on matters of the silver screen. On Monday, the Israeli military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, consulted with top generals about how to respond to the film, saying it is “based on blood libels” and “deliberate distortions of reality.” He said the military would examine possible legal measures against those suspected of disseminating false allegations and of disclosing classified materials.

Israel’s minister of culture, Miki Zohar, went so far as to ask the authorities to examine whether the directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, could be stripped of their Israeli citizenship on grounds of “betraying the state of Israel.”

Representatives for Mr. Abraham and Ms. Szor declined to respond specifically to Mr. Zohar’s accusation and threat. But Mr. Abraham responded to criticism from home in a video statement on Sunday, saying that it was important for Israeli society to learn about the military’s actions in Gaza and that the soldiers had spoken in Hebrew “because they want to reach the Israeli public.”

The 80-minute documentary, co-produced by The Guardian, consists of interviews with 24 people described as Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers who, according to the film’s synopsis, reveal in detail “the systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”

The interviewees, who could potentially face legal consequences in Israel and abroad, were not identified.

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