CrossFireArabia
More than 200 Israeli filmmakers have signed a petition supporting the creators of NAZA, a documentary featuring testimony from Israeli military and intelligence personnel about the army’s operations in Gaza, Israeli media reported Monday.
The signatories include prominent directors Ari Folman, Shlomi Elkabetz, Ran Tal and Michal Aviad.
“The central role of art and journalism is to hold a mirror up to the society in which they exist,” the petition said.
The initiative came amid growing criticism and threats directed at the film’s creators, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, after the documentary won the Special Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.
Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar branded the filmmakers’ work an act of “treason” and said he would seek to revoke their Israeli citizenship.
The culture minister does not have the power to revoke citizenship unilaterally. Such a measure would require a formal legal process involving the interior minister and the courts under Israeli law.
NAZA, produced by British newspaper The Guardian and JW Films, is based on interviews with 24 anonymous Israeli military and intelligence insiders about surveillance, target selection and strikes in Gaza.
The film takes its name from the Hebrew military abbreviation for “collateral damage,” referring to the estimated number of civilians expected to be killed in an attack.
Interviewees describe the use of artificial intelligence and mass surveillance to identify targets as well as attacks approved despite anticipated civilian casualties.
Abraham and Szor said the documentary focuses on institutional policies, orders and operational practices rather than isolated misconduct by individual soldiers.
The Israeli army rejected the film’s allegations and questioned the reliability of testimony from anonymous sources whose identities, ranks and areas of responsibility could not be verified.
It also denied that artificial intelligence determines which targets are attacked, saying strike selection and authorization decisions are made by human personnel in accordance with military directives.
Abraham and Szor previously worked on the Academy Award-winning documentary No Other Land alongside Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal. Anadolu
