Filmmakers defend NAZA documentary amid threats from Israeli government

The directors of NAZA, a documentary about Israel's use of AI and automatic surveillance in the ongoing Gaza War, have defended their work amid accusations of treason and threats to revoke their citizenship.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Culture Minister Zohar, and IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir have denied the claims made in the documentary and called for the directors' citizenship to be revoked. The film has been called 'treason' and 'incitement of anti-semitism'.

The film consists of two dozen anonymous interviews with Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers. They describe the AI system and mobile phone surveillance which are used to locate members of Hamas, but also to spy on and locate civilians, to estimate potential total deaths if a certain 'target' is struck. The film's title is an acronym derived from the Hebrew term for collateral damage.

Many of the IDF members interviewed describe their tasks, from hacking into phones to ordering deadly strikes, like ordinary office tasks. Some described feeling no remorse for the role they played in the deaths of civilians. One interviewee said, "We kill these children deliberately".

The documentary's world premiere came earlier in September at the Venice Film Festival, where it received a record-breaking 25 minute standing ovation and won the special jury prize.

NAZA's North American premiere took place on Saturday at New York City's Lincoln Center, a day after Netanyahu addressed the UN general assembly in nearby Manhattan.

"I don’t want to live in a world where rightful empathy to Israeli victims is weaponised by leaders like Netanyahu – cynical people who promise nothing other than perpetual occupation and war,” NAZA director Yuval Abraham said at the premiere in New York. “It’s weaponised to mean a lack of empathy to Palestinians, to mean this continuous killing and murder of people. I don’t think we should want to live in such a world. I think we should all refuse to play this zero-sum game."

Co-director Rachel Szor pointed out that the government had been hiding the AI surveillance system even from the Israeli general public.

“These crimes that you saw are ongoing,” Abraham told the audience. “They’re ongoing because it’s what our country is doing, and because of what your country is supporting and funding.”

In addition to the government's hostile response, various journalists and influencers have called for the NAZA directors to be 'hunted' or even 'executed', culminating with right-wing protesters surrounding the house of Szor's parents.

Meanwhile, thousands of Israeli professionals in the film industry, as well as over 40 Israeli human rights organisations, have spoken out in defence of Szor and Abraham. So have international press freedom organisations, including the International Documentary Association, which published a letter calling for the public intimidation campaign and threats of citizenship revocation to end.

"Disagreement with a film must not become a threat to the people who made it", the letter states.

The film is set for international release in cinemas next month. The Guardian, which helped produce the film, plans to make it accessible for no charge on their website from November.

Abraham and Szor have collaborated previously on No Other Land, a documentary about violence and injustices committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. It won two awards at the Berlinale and the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. No Other Land also faced significant backlash, with protesters harrassing Abraham's family and attacking co-director Hamdan Ballal.

Watch the trailer for NAZA below: