NAZA won the Special Jury Prize at Venice Film Festiva.
The documentary on the Gaza genocide is helmed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.
Israeli minister Miki Zohar threatened to revoke the Israeli citizenship of the filmmakers.
Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar has lashed out at the makers of NAZA, the film on Israel's genocide in Gaza that just won at Venice Film Festival. Zohar insisted on X that he will move to revoke the citizenship of filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor after their documentary won the Special Jury Prize in Venice. NAZA premiered to a a standing ovation at the film’s premiere that clocked in at 24.5 minutes, the longest in festival history.
“The self-loathing that burns in the creators, who are willing to harm their homeland just to get applause from antisemites around the world, is inconceivable and constitutes a betrayal of the state,” Zohar wrote. “As Minister of Culture, I will act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these despicable creators for betraying the state.”
NAZA weaves in testimonies from Israeli military and intelligence personnel who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Interviewees described an AI system called “Lavender”, used to monitor telecommunications between Palestinians in Gaza and determine targeted killings. NAZA is named for an acronym used by Israel’s intelligence service to indicate how many civilians it expects to die in an airstrike on Gaza.
Upon accepting the Venice award, Abraham said, “It’s honestly not very easy to stand here, thinking of all the Israeli politicians and journalists who are now attacking this film and denying it without even seeing it. So much is being done not to look at reality.”
NAZA Premiered At Venice Film Festival 2026
He added, “We believe that the denial of a crime is what helps it persist, and that’s why it’s especially important for us that Israelis watch this film — it’s our country that is doing these crimes — that Europeans watch it, and especially here in Italy because your government and the German government are blocking pressure on Israel that can end this, that Americans watch it because that country is funding much of the killing.”
Other Israeli ministers also attacked the directors, who landed an Oscar in 2025 for their film No Other Land about Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank. "You are a disgrace and an embarrassment to the entire people of Israel. Go away!” the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, claimed on X
“I am certain that your friends, that is to say our enemies Hamas in Gaza, will welcome you with open arms.”
