Israeli Doc 'Naza' Exposes AI Targeting Of Gaza Family Homes — SkimNews
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- Abraham and Szor's documentary "Naza" premiered at the Venice Film Festival as a late competition addition, built on interviews with 24 Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers about Gaza targeting operations
- The film exposes Israel's use of AI, phone surveillance, and crude points-based systems to decide targets and strike them in family homes regardless of likely civilian casualties, with the title drawn from the military's Hebrew acronym for each individual tallied in pre-strike death estimates
- Abraham alleges the military systematically destroys homes to create a wasteland preventing Palestinian return, and deliberately targets civil society figures including journalists and medical staff
- Investigative reporting behind the film was previously published by The Guardian (a producer), +972 Magazine, and Local Call, with Abraham noting he built his source network through these outlets before October 7, 2023
- Interviewees were anonymized through silhouetted rooftop interviews filmed against Tel Aviv's nighttime skyline near HaKirya HQ, with appearances and voices altered after rigorous source protection work with The Guardian's investigations desk
- Multiple soldiers in the film drew their own parallels to Adolf Eichmann and Hannah Arendt's "banality of evil," with one saying he came to understand German society in the 1930s-40s through his experience killing Gaza civilians
- Abraham accused Israeli mainstream media of partial responsibility for civilian deaths, saying Channel 12 dedicated less than 0.5% of coverage to Gaza civilian casualties in the first six months while channels 11 and 13 normalized what he called genocidal ideas
Why it matters: The documentary puts internal Israeli military testimony behind claims previously available only through investigative journalism: 24 anonymous officers describing AI-driven targeting of family homes. Abraham's explicit accusation that mainstream Israeli channels bear partial responsibility for civilian deaths—backed by his cited figure of less than 0.5% coverage on Channel 12—adds a named, quantified media critique rarely voiced from inside Israel.
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