Netanyahu seeks criminal probe of links to award-winning film
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Netanyahu also called for “the opening of a criminal investigation and prosecution for serious information security offences, criminal defamation, and harming Israel’s diplomatic and security interests” for a film depicting Israeli army killings.
NAZA premiered last month at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won the special jury prize after receiving the longest ovation in the event’s history. It takes its name from an acronym used euphemistically by Israeli intelligence to indicate how many civilians it expects to be killed in an airstrike. The Israeli government has fiercely attacked the film’s producers Abraham and Szor, threateningto strip them of their citizenship and accusing them of treason. Government supporters have vowed to hound the film-makers on their return to Israel and picketed Szor’s parents’ home in Savyon, chanting: “Death sentence to traitors.”
The film was denounced as an “attack on the state of Israel”, and military and legal officials were ordered to identify the soldiers featured and examine possible legal action against them. However, the military advocate general, Itai Ofir, said criminal prosecution would require evidence of security violations or disclosure of classified material, although disciplinary measures remained possible.
The general secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, representing over 320,000 journalists, said: “These threats constitute a blatant act of intimidation against journalists who have simply been doing their job, in strict accordance with ethical standards and in the public interest. I am not surprised by this outburst, which confirms that this regime is prepared to do anything to cover up its crimes against humanity and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
A Guardian spokesperson said: “After first threatening to strip NAZA’s directors of their Israeli citizenship, the Israeli government is now calling for an investigation into their journalistic sources. These moves are all attempts to distract from the urgent questions the film asks about the mass killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
NAZA builds on revelations first published by the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine, the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call and the Guardian between 2023 and 2025. Earlier this month, a Guardian spokesperson said that in the “process of assessing the past three years, the team behind the film has “interviewed more than 100 sources” familiar with IDF systems used in the war in Gaza, including senior-ranking commanders directly involved in the authorization of strikes that killed civilians, including women and children.