IAC Protests 'NAZA' Premiere With Oct. 7 Footage — SkimNews
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- Israeli-American Council organized a protest Saturday outside Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall as 'NAZA' screened at the New York Film Festival, drawing more than 50 demonstrators and mobile LED trucks projecting graphic October 7 footage and portraits of victims
- IAC described 'NAZA' as an 'anti-Israel' film that 'makes serious allegations about the IDF's conduct in the Gaza Strip while ignoring findings and information that contradict its claims' and fails to present the full context of October 7
- IAC's Noa Peri-Jensch said the group mourns every innocent life lost but 'compassion for Palestinian civilians does not require us to erase October 7, ignore Hamas or accept one narrative without questioning it'
- Rom El-Hai, a survivor of the Oct. 7 Nova music festival attack, addressed the crowd, called the film's makers 'traitors,' and flashed phone photos from that day, saying 'I saw the hatred with my own eyes'
- 'NAZA' won a special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival and is set to release in more than 50 territories before streaming free on The Guardian's website
- Protester Karen Toledano said Israeli voices have been 'stifled' in creative spaces that have called themselves inclusive, and that calm conversations about facts are often met with anger instead of argument
Why it matters: The IAC protest comes just as 'NAZA' — already Venice-jury honored — scales into 50-plus territories and a free Guardian stream, meaning the council's objections will travel alongside the film rather than constrain its reach, and the clash itself amplifies the very debate the protest aimed to reframe.
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