NAZA, produced by Guardian, was screened in the Sala Grande, the main hall of the Venice Film Festival at the Palazzo del Cinema. The audience watched the 80-minute film, and after the screening, they stood and applauded the filmmakers for 25 minutes.
The film’s title comes from a military acronym in Hebrew, used euphemistically for civilians expected to be killed in an attack. Set against the backdrop of a night-time Tel Aviv, the participants are intelligence officers and other soldiers. They describe a series of systems, some driven by artificial intelligence, that select thousands of people to be killed in strikes, often at night and surrounded by their families.
The story is told exclusively in Hebrew by 24 anonymous Israeli military insiders, many from elite units. The film presents different perspectives that lead to the same conclusion: participation in a programme of mass killing, with little distinction between combatants and civilians. More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war. Some participants describe being humiliated by the experience, while others describe the excitement and a sense of 'fun' as they justify their actions.
The film will begin screening in cinemas from 30 September, with international distribution plans to be announced soon. The directors are Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. Right-wing political figures have accused the directors of 'treason'. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Wednesday that he would introduce laws to strip citizenship from those who 'blacken' the image of Israeli soldiers.
Demonstrators and members of far-right groups have called for violence against the directors and the destruction of their homes. A threat to the lives of the directors has been highlighted by the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, which warned that their lives are genuinely at risk. Dozens of human rights and peace organisations in Israel have stood in support of the filmmakers, as have international media freedom organisations.
Ofer Winter, a controversial former military officer turned politician, stated at a campaign rally for his party, the People of Israel, in Rishon LeZion, that a citizen and Jew was receiving a thunderous applause for blackening his own people. Yehuda Schlesinger, a right-wing journalist, stated that Abraham and Szor should be 'hunted' and 'chased', prevented from returning to Israel, describing the ovation in Venice as '25 minutes of anti-Semitic applause'.
Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that he would promote two laws against 'defamation' of Israeli soldiers and the state of Israel. He stated: 'We will strip citizenship from anyone who defames the soldiers of the IDF in the world – they will be deeply affected in their pocket.' Haggai Matar, director of the left-leaning independent magazine +973 and Sicha Mekomit, stated on Wednesday that right-wing activists had broken into their offices, with one recording the incident.
Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli political analyst and pollster who writes a column for Haaretz, stated that the debate on NAZA is a million times more prominent than the announcement of British sanctions. She added that the right is exploiting the current inability of Israelis to see the film and judge it for themselves. 'As it is unprecedented, it can be turned into something electorally potent that is currently beyond the reach of Israeli voters to demystify,' she said. The atmosphere towards dissenting views has worsened significantly since the deadly attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
