Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ignited fierce political debate after announcing plans to push sweeping new legislation targeting individuals who speak critically of the Israeli military, a proposal triggered by the release of a bombshell independent documentary that includes firsthand testimony from current and former soldiers detailing alleged war crimes committed during the ongoing military campaign in Gaza.
The film, titled *NAZA*, has drawn swift and fierce pushback from senior Israeli government figures ever since it was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival over the weekend. The documentary features anonymous on-camera interviews with 24 current and former Israeli military and intelligence insiders, who provide detailed accounts of military operations that resulted in mass civilian casualties. Among the most explosive claims included in the film is that Israeli commanders approved a strike that was expected to kill up to 500 Palestinian civilians solely to eliminate one high-ranking Hamas operative. Interviewees also confirmed that Israeli forces routinely use artificial intelligence tools to identify strike targets and carry out remote bombings, even when operational data clearly projected widespread civilian deaths. Already, the Israeli military has issued an official statement rejecting all allegations raised in the documentary as unsubstantiated.
In a video address shared widely across social media platforms, Netanyahu laid out the terms of the two bills his government will introduce to the Knesset, Israel’s national parliament. The first bill would grant the state authority to revoke the Israeli citizenship of any individual found to have defamed active-duty or retired Israeli soldiers. The second proposal would drastically increase financial penalties for defamation against military personnel, raising the maximum possible damage awards by 20 times current levels.
“We will hit them both in the pocket and in citizenship, because they have no place among us,” Netanyahu said in the address, echoing the hardline stance already adopted by other top members of his governing coalition. Netanyahu’s announcement follows explicit calls from multiple cabinet ministers to revoke the citizenship of *NAZA* co-directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor over their work on the film.
On Monday, Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar doubled down on that pressure, describing the documentary as “despicable” and calling its Venice Film Festival award “shocking.” Writing on the social platform X, Zohar accused the filmmakers of “burning self-hatred” and betrayal of the Israeli state, arguing that the pair had deliberately harmed their country to win praise from what he called antisemitic audiences abroad. “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 wrote. “I will act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these despicable creators on the grounds of treason against the state.”
The proposed legislation has already sparked concerns among civil liberties advocates over its potential to curtail freedom of speech and political dissent inside Israel, though the Netanyahu administration has framed the measures as a necessary defense of the country’s military and national security.