'NAZA' Doc Features 24 Anonymous Israeli Soldiers at Venice — SkimNews
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- "NAZA" — the new documentary from Oscar-winning "No Other Land" co-directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor — premiered at Venice as the only documentary in the competition lineup, built from interviews with 24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers who described their roles in surveillance and remote killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
- The Guardian and James Wilson (JW Films) produced the film, with Jonathan Glazer (of Oscar-winning "The Zone of Interest") as executive producer; Abraham said the film was shot over three years in "total secrecy" on Tel Aviv rooftops, with the soldiers' appearances and voices digitally altered to protect them from retaliation.
- The title "NAZA" is an acronym used by Israeli intelligence for the number of civilians expected to be killed as collateral damage in an airstrike; the film details AI-driven target selection, massacres at humanitarian food distribution sites, and the targeting of families inside their homes, according to the directors.
- Abraham said the film's purpose is to counter what he called denial of Gaza, calling out the recent killing of 8-year-old Wafaa Akila and her father; he argued this denial is what enables "unconditional military aid and diplomatic cover" from Europe and the US to continue.
- Abraham dismissed hopes that upcoming Israeli elections will change Palestinian policy, citing "almost total consensus among the coalition and the opposition in Israel" on Gaza — including during the 2022 government of change — and calling for international pressure instead.
- The project builds on prior investigative reporting by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call, drawing from Abraham's years of source-building as an Israeli investigative journalist inside the military system.
Why it matters: The 24 anonymous soldier testimonies offer rare inside-the-system evidence of Gaza operations at a moment when Abraham argues Israeli politics offers no near-term change for Palestinians regardless of coalition shifts — making external pressure the directors' stated lever for change.
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