In a controversial move that has sparked global debate over free speech and accountability for military actions, Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar announced Sunday he will initiate legal action to strip citizenship from the creators of a hard-hitting new documentary that exposes an organized “system of killing” targeting Palestinian civilians in Gaza during Israel’s ongoing military campaign.
Titled NAZA, the film directed by Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor took home the Special Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on Saturday, a recognition Zohar has decried as “shocking” and labeling the work itself “despicable”. Writing on the social platform X, Zohar argued that the filmmakers’ work amounts to treason, claiming they are driven by self-hatred and eager to undermine the Israeli state for praise from what he called antisemitic audiences across the globe. “The creators’ burning self-hatred, and their willingness to harm their homeland in order to receive applause from antisemites around the world, is beyond comprehension and constitutes a betrayal of the state,” Zohar stated. He added, “I will act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these despicable creators on the grounds of treason against the state.”
The feature-length documentary, which has earned unprecedented acclaim at major international film festivals, pulls back the curtain on the institutional structures that the filmmakers say enable the mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Drawing on on-the-record interviews with 24 anonymous current and former Israeli military and intelligence insiders, the film details how AI-powered tools are used to select bombing targets, even when commanders know the strikes will result in massive civilian casualties. One unnamed insider interviewed for the project recounted a single operation where the assassination of one high-profile Hamas figure was approved despite the expectation that it would kill up to 500 Palestinian civilians.
Following its world premiere at Venice on September 10, NAZA received a historic 24.5-minute standing ovation from audiences, marking one of the longest reception in the festival’s history. In comments after the award win, Abraham emphasized the urgent core of his work: “The core of the film is a system of killing that has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza,” he said, adding that independent estimates put the actual death toll far higher. He has called on the Israeli public to hear the testimonies directly, noting all insiders spoke in Hebrew so fellow citizens can understand firsthand what unfolded during military operations in the enclave.
The documentary has triggered fierce backlash from Israeli political and military leadership even as it gains international acclaim. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has issued a formal rejection of the film’s claims, arguing that the outlet cannot verify the identities or service backgrounds of the anonymous sources, questioning whether they actually served in the IDF or had direct knowledge of the operations they described. Prominent right-wing Israeli figures have doubled down on criticism: former defense minister and sitting member of parliament Avigdor Lieberman labeled Abraham and Szor “haters of Israel”, while Yoseph Haddad, a member of a new right-wing party that advocates for the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, called the film an “appalling” work that falsely accuses Israeli troops of genocide.
The debate over NAZA unfolds against the backdrop of a years-long military campaign in Gaza that has been widely condemned by the international community. Since the campaign began in 2023, Israeli military operations have killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and wounded an additional 174,000 people, according to latest official counts from Gazan health authorities. Israeli forces have also imposed a total blockade on aid and commercial trade into the enclave, triggering widespread famine that was formally declared in Gaza City in August 2025. More than 70% of residential buildings, schools, and medical facilities across Gaza have been destroyed, pushing the 2.3 million-person population into what the United Nations describes as one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in modern history. Multiple high-level international bodies, including a United Nations Commission of Inquiry, have issued formal findings concluding that Israel’s military actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide.
This documentary is far from the first account of systemic war crimes to emerge from the conflict; dozens of Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers have given anonymous testimonies to Israeli media outlets since the war began, detailing widespread violations of international law. Just last week, a reserve Israeli drone operator told leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz that senior commanders frame the entire population of Gaza as legitimate military targets. When the operator requested a formal list of approved targets earlier this year, he was told, “You have two million targets in Gaza.”