'Naza': Why Israel Fears Its Own Soldiers' Testimonies

The documentary film 'Naza' has sparked fierce controversy in Israel after winning the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, fueled by testimonies from Israeli soldiers, officers, and intelligence personnel regarding the military assault on Gaza.

The uproar intensified after Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar threatened to push for revoking the citizenship of co-directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, accusing them of 'treason.' The move shifted the clash from the film's content to broader questions over freedom of expression and the boundaries of scrutinizing the military and the government in wartime.

'Naza': Inside Accounts from the Military and Intelligence

Spanning 80 minutes and based on a three-year investigation, 'Naza' draws on interviews with 24 Israeli soldiers, officers, and intelligence personnel who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The documentary details how targets were selected in Gaza, the mechanics of carrying out airstrikes, and the formulas used to calculate projected civilian casualties, alongside the deployment of artificial intelligence systems to designate targets.

The filmmakers derived the title 'Naza' from a Hebrew acronym for 'collateral damage'—a military term used to describe anticipated civilian losses when striking a military objective.

According to the directors, the testimonies reveal prior knowledge of civilians inside several targeted buildings, offering a stark look into how bombing operations are conducted across the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Soldiers' Testimonies in 'Naza'

The testimonies presented in 'Naza' carry particular weight given the nature of their sources, drawing directly from personnel who operated within the Israeli military and intelligence establishment.

The accounts point to the use of various technologies for intelligence gathering and target designation, advance assessments of civilian toll, and operations that struck inhabited homes.

The filmmakers emphasize that the documentary does not rely on an outside narrative about the military; rather, it places insider accounts before the public—thrusting the film into the center of a political and media storm both inside Israel and abroad.

In response, the Israeli military dismissed the film, calling its claims false and baseless. Meanwhile, Israeli media outlets noted that the documentary's revelations reflect the personal accounts and claims of its sources rather than conclusive judicial findings.

Zohar Threatens to Strip Citizenship of 'Naza' Directors

The standoff escalated following remarks by Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, who vowed to work toward stripping the Israeli citizenship of Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, branding their documentary 'Naza' as 'treason against the state.'

Zohar accused the co-directors of tarnishing the image of Israel and its military on the international stage, describing the film’s win at the Venice Film Festival as a shocking development.

However, the minister’s announcement does not grant him direct authority to revoke citizenship. Under Israeli law, revoking citizenship on grounds of 'breach of loyalty to the state' requires a stringent legal procedure involving authorized agencies and, ultimately, a formal court ruling.

Calls for punitive action were not confined to the governing coalition. Former Defense Minister and head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman, called for prosecuting the filmmakers on treason charges, arguing that the documentary provides ammunition that could be leveraged against Israel and its leaders in the international arena.

'Naza' Rekindles Debate on Freedom of Expression

The fallout surrounding 'Naza' has moved far beyond its cinematic merit or the specific accounts it presents, shifting into the realm of civil rights and freedom of expression.

At the core of the standoff lies a fundamental dilemma: Should the testimonies be addressed through open scrutiny and factual verification, or by prosecuting the filmmakers and branding them as traitors?

The issue has grown increasingly fraught as the culture minister tied the uproar over the documentary to his plans for overhauling film subsidies, insisting public funds must not support projects deemed harmful to the image of the state and its military.

This has plunged the film industry into a delicate balancing act—weighing the government’s prerogative to set public funding criteria against the rights of artists and journalists to probe sensitive military affairs and hold state institutions to account.

Abraham: 'Watch the Film Before Attacking It'

Pushing back against the fierce backlash, co-director Yuval Abraham urged the Israeli public to watch the film before passing judgment, stressing efforts to make it accessible to as wide an Israeli audience as possible.

Alongside Rachel Szor, Abraham seeks to bring the firsthand accounts of soldiers and officers directly to viewers inside Israel, following the documentary's world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 10, 2026.

The film clinched the Special Jury Prize at the festival's closing ceremony, cementing its global profile and catapulting it to the forefront of Israel's media and political debate.

'Naza': From Venice to the Israeli Domestic Debate

The award at the Venice Film Festival marks a turning point for 'Naza', elevating it from an investigative documentary built on military whistleblowers into a work drawing global scrutiny.

The documentary's resonance is magnified against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza and mounting international legal fallout over military operations, alongside surging interest in firsthand accounts emerging from within the Israeli defense establishment.

Co-directors Abraham and Szor previously collaborated on the Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land' alongside Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal.

This positions 'Naza' within a cinematic trajectory that transcends artistic documentation, directly challenging the official wartime narrative through testimonies from those who operated inside the military and intelligence apparatus.

Can Cinema Break the Silence on the War in Gaza?

The fallout over 'Naza' has snowballed into a confrontation that transcends the medium of film itself. While the documentary puts forward whistleblowing testimonies from within the military establishment, these accounts have been met with an intense political and media backlash.

While critics argue the film tarnishes the image of Israel and its armed forces, the co-directors stand firm on the public’s right to know the findings they unearthed, urging critics to debate the substance of the testimonies rather than attacking the film and its creators.

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