Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday pushed back forcefully against a new documentary he says unfairly vilifies Israeli soldiers, arguing the film feeds a global wave of antisemitic sentiment at a moment when Israel is already under siege in the court of international opinion.
The documentary, “NAZA,” made by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, drew a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival and a top jury prize for its portrayal of Israeli targeting decisions in Gaza, built around anonymous testimony from soldiers and intelligence officers.
Netanyahu called the film’s reception “shocking,” saying it was especially painful to see Israelis themselves supply material that plays into narratives pushed by the country’s adversaries. Israel’s military leadership echoed the criticism, describing the film as an attack on the state rather than legitimate journalism, and said it would examine possible legal steps against those who produced it.
Supporters of the government’s position argue the film sidesteps the core complexity of the war: that Hamas has deliberately embedded fighters and weapons in hospitals, schools and residential buildings, making civilian harm in strikes against legitimate military targets an outcome Hamas itself engineers. They note the IDF maintains internal legal review processes for targeting decisions, and argue that a documentary built on anonymous, unverifiable accounts — however dramatically presented — shouldn’t be treated as a definitive record of what happened in real time, under fire, against an enemy that doesn’t wear a uniform.
Officials close to Netanyahu also point to what they describe as a broader pattern: statements from domestic critics, leaked material they say was misleadingly edited, and now an award-winning film, all converging in a way they argue legitimizes accusations of war crimes against Israel on the world stage — regardless of whether the underlying claims hold up to scrutiny.
The filmmakers reject that framing. Director Yuval Abraham has said Israelis need to confront the film’s claims rather than deny them, and defenders of the documentary argue that anonymity for soldiers speaking about their own wartime conduct is standard practice in conflict journalism, not evidence of fabrication.
Gaza health authorities say more than 73,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the war began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel.
