Israeli Officers Detail AI Gaza Targeting in NAZA Documentary — SkimNews
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- NAZA documentary features 24 anonymized Israeli military and intelligence insiders who helped develop an AI mapping tool trawling phone signals to recommend Gaza apartment buildings for bombing, with the film premiering at Venice and competing for the Golden Lion
- Israeli intelligence uses "NAZA" as an internal acronym estimating civilian casualties per airstrike, with one source claiming approval was given to kill 500 civilians in order to target a single Hamas member
- Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham direct the film, produced by the Guardian and executive produced by Jonathan Glazer ("The Zone of Interest"); the pair previously won an Oscar for 2024's "No Other Land"
- Israeli Defense Forces issued a categorical rejection of the allegations, criticizing the use of anonymous testimonies that "cannot be verified" and asserting it "makes unprecedented efforts to minimise harm to civilians" during the Gaza offensive
- Gaza health ministry figures cited in the documentary report more than 73,000 deaths over three years of Israeli bombardment, with the vast majority identified as civilian casualties
- Abraham stated he knows of no insider who refused participation in real time, calling it scary "what that says about the state of Israel" and how genocide spreads as a normalizing atmosphere
Why it matters: With the IDF "categorically rejecting" the allegations and Variety calling it a "devastating exposé," NAZA lands on the international stage as 24 anonymous Israeli intelligence insiders describe an AI-driven targeting system for Gaza bombings. Its Golden Lion competition at Venice amplifies pressure on cultural institutions engaging with Israel while the military dismisses the accounts as unverifiable.
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