Government of Israel wants to revoke citizenship of the filmmakers of “Naza”

“ Como Minister for Culture, I will act immediately to revoke the citizenship israelite of these vile creators for treason against the country”, said Miki Zohar in a message on social network X, referring to film directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.

Zohar accused Abraham and Szor of having a “burning and self-destructive hatred” and of being “willing to harm their homeland to receive applause from the anti-Semites of the world,” which he said “constitutes treason against the country.”.

For National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of the far right, Abraham and Szor “are a disgrace to all the people of Israel.”.

“Get lost. I'm sure your friends, our enemies in the [Palestinian radical movement] Hamas in Gaza will welcome you with open arms”, wrote Ben Gvir also on X.

Filmed on Tel Aviv’s rooftops at night, in great secrecy, over three years, “Naza” (“collateral damage” in military slang) presents testimonies of 24 Israeli military personnel, including intelligence officers and soldiers, about the war in the Gaza Strip and what they consider to be the systematic murder of Palestinian civilians.

The film of 80 minutes after the festival premiere on Thursday received a record standing ovation, which lasted about 25 minutes, according to international news agencies, and received on Saturday the Special Jury Award.

“It’s really very important for us that the Israelites see this film”Abraham said at the time.

Abraham and Szor were also part of the team behind the film "No Other Land", together with the Palestinians Hamdan Ballal and Basel Adra, on the Israeli plan for the destruction and dislocation of the Palestinian inhabitants of a village in the West Bank and who won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2025.

On Friday, the Israeli army opposed testimonies in the documentary rejecting “categorically” that decisions on bombing in the Gaza Strip should always be taken by artificial intelligence (IA).

The decisions concerning “the selection and approval of attacks” are made “only by human personnel, in accordance with the guidelines of the Israeli Defense Forces, and not by artificial intelligence,” he stated in a statement, and also questioned the veracity of the testimonies.

The Gaza Strip war was triggered by Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023 in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people died and 251 were taken hostage.

In retaliation, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the enclave, which caused more than 73,000 deaths, according to local authorities controlled by Hamas, a humanitarian disaster, the destruction of almost all the infrastructure in the territory and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

Since the beginning of the current ceasefire, agreed in October last year, the Gaza Strip authorities have accounted for more than 1,300 Palestinians killed in attacks by Israeli forces, which maintain high restrictions on the entry of independent journalists and observers into the territory.