NAZA Filmmakers Face Citizenship Threats at NYC Premiere — SkimNews
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- Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor defended their documentary NAZA at its North American premiere at Lincoln Center on Saturday, addressing citizenship-revocation threats from Israeli officials and protesters outside waving Israeli flags and calling the film "propaganda dressed up as a documentary."
- NAZA features testimony from 24 anonymized Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers describing AI-powered systems used to select targets; the film's title is an Israeli intelligence acronym indicating expected civilian casualties in airstrikes, which the filmmakers say are often conducted at night in private homes.
- Benjamin Netanyahu plans to advance legislation revoking the filmmakers' citizenship and compared NAZA to "launching dozens of ballistic missiles" in an interview with Makor Rishon, while culture minister Miki Zohar called their work "treason against the state."
- IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said the military would use "every tool at our disposal" against the film, and earlier this month dozens of right-wing activists surrounded Szor's parents' home in central Israel with one calling for the "death penalty for traitors."
- The 80-minute documentary, produced by the Guardian and filmed secretly on Tel Aviv rooftops, builds on reporting published from 2023 to 2025 in the Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call; it won the special jury prize at Venice after a record 25-minute standing ovation.
- More than 1,500 Israeli film professionals, 43 Israeli human rights organizations, and major international festivals have defended the filmmakers; the film is set for theatrical release in 55 countries next month and a free digital release on the Guardian's website in November.
- The premiere came one day after Netanyahu defended Israel's Gaza campaign at the UN General Assembly across Central Park, calling it the "opposite of genocide" while dozens of diplomats walked out in solidarity with Palestinians — Abraham told the NYC crowd: "These soldiers are talking about what has been done with the taxpayer money of the people sitting here," referencing the US's $3.8 billion annual military aid to Israel.
Why it matters: The premiere crystallizes a direct collision between an Israeli government campaign to suppress the documentary and an international press community rallying behind it. With Netanyahu pushing citizenship revocation and the IDF chief threatening action against the filmmakers, the case tests whether Israeli institutions will punish or shield documentarians exposing state practices — and the filmmakers explicitly framed the screening as a reckoning for American complicity via $3.8 billion in annual military aid.
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