What happened in this Culture story?

Israel's culture minister has called for the Oscar-winning directors of NAZA, a Guardian-produced documentary on civilian deaths in Gaza, to be stripped of their Israeli citizenship, prompting backlash from press freedom advocates and the film-maker's own newsroom.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Miki Zohar** wrote to the Population and Immigration Authority and Interior Ministry seeking to revoke the citizenship of directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor over their documentary NAZA, accusing them of 'treason against the state'

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**NAZA**, produced by the Guardian, features 24 Israeli military and intelligence whistleblowers describing AI-powered targeting systems; one source claimed approval was given to kill 500 NAZA — Israel's own acronym for expected civilian casualties — to eliminate one Hamas member

📎 SkimNews has covered NAZA 13+ times · see the file →

Israel moves to revoke citizenship of Gaza documentary directors — SkimNews

By The Guardian Culture · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-09-14

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Miki Zohar wrote to the Population and Immigration Authority and Interior Ministry seeking to revoke the citizenship of directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor over their documentary NAZA, accusing them of 'treason against the state'
NAZA, produced by the Guardian, features 24 Israeli military and intelligence whistleblowers describing AI-powered targeting systems; one source claimed approval was given to kill 500 NAZA — Israel's own acronym for expected civilian casualties — to eliminate one Hamas member
The 80-minute film received a 25-minute standing ovation (a Venice festival record) and won a special jury prize on Saturday, days before the minister's threats
Netanyahu called the film 'intolerable,' Itamar Ben-Gvir called the directors 'a disgrace,' and IDF Chief Eyal Zamir claimed it was based on 'blood libels'; military lawyers are examining 'possible legal measures'
Revoking nationality is legally possible under a 2022 supreme court ruling and 2023 expansion covering espionage, treason, and terrorism, though revocation is rarely applied
Abraham and Szor won an Oscar in 2025 for No Other Land about Israeli settler violence; Abraham's family home was targeted by a rightwing mob after that film's 2024 premiere
The Guardian said it would 'robustly defend NAZA — and the team behind it — from any attacks or attempts at censorship'

Why it matters: Zohar's request is the first concrete government action against the film-makers and tests the legal pathway opened by 2022/2023 loyalty laws, which could leave the Oscar-winning duo stateless for publishing whistleblower testimony. The intensity of the response — from the prime minister, IDF chief, and far-right ministers — also reveals how destabilizing internal dissent has become for a government that has faced limited Hebrew-language coverage of Gaza's 73,000 reported deaths.