Israeli Culture Minister seeks to revoke citizenship of two documentary filmmakers

Image caption: Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor were given the Special Jury Award at the Venice International Film Festival

By Hugo Bachega Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

*Israel's culture minister has called for the Oscar-winning Israeli co-directors of Naza, a documentary that accuses the Israeli army of mass civilian killings in Gaza, to be stripped of their citizenship over "treason against the state".*

Named for the Hebrew military acronym for collateral damage, the film speaks to 24 unidentified Israeli military and intelligence officers who outlined the AI-powered targeting systems used by the Israeli army to bombard Gaza in the war triggered by the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023.

Since then, more than 73,000 Palestinians, including more than 20,000 children, have been killed in the campaign by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry — figures considered reliable by the UN. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack.

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor say their 80-minute documentary "details the systems behind Israel's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza" during the war, according to its official synopsis. One of the people interviewed says there was approval for an attack to kill 500 people for "one human target" — an allegation the IDF said was "completely false".

Minister's Response

In a post on X, Culture Minister Miki Zohar said he had asked the authorities "to investigate how the materials were obtained, who is behind them, and whether in the process of obtaining or publishing them, actions were taken that amount to aiding the enemy during wartime".

In a letter addressed to Israel's Interior Ministry, he said: "The claims presented in the film are false and distorted, and I categorically reject the attempt to portray IDF soldiers and the State of Israel as perpetrators of intentional crimes." Zohar mentioned the country's Citizenship Law, saying it "allows for the revocation of citizenship due to a 'breach of allegiance to the State of Israel'". The measure, however, has rarely been applied.

Filmmakers' Response

There has been no immediate reaction from Abraham and Szor. The filmmakers won an Oscar last year for No Other Land, a documentary about violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Naza premiered last Thursday at the Venice Film Festival, where it received a 25-minute standing ovation, but has not yet been made available to the wider public. It won a special jury prize at the festival. Speaking then, Abraham said the reporting for the film, which was produced by the UK's Guardian newspaper, had been "rigorous" and that efforts to discredit it were "attempts to not face reality".

"It's a war that has principally been killing civilians. And I think our film is showing that this is not some mistake. It's not an accident. It's something very, very systemic. And this should have been apparent to everyone, I think, from the start. But we are showing it from the inside, with insider testimony," he told the Associated Press in an interview.

IDF Statement

The IDF, after initially saying it "categorically rejects [the] allegations", later issued a new statement via its spokesperson Brig-Gen Effie Defrin, saying: "The film 'Naza' has not yet been released in full. However, based on what can be seen in promotional material, it presents a series of serious and false allegations regarding the IDF and its personnel.

"To enable a substantive, professional, and fact-based discussion, rather than one based on misleading portrayals, I invite the filmmakers to allow IDF representatives to view the film in full so that we can address each of the allegations it raises on merits."

Political Reactions

Other Israeli politicians have criticised the documentary, including former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who called it a "horrific blood libel against our sons and daughters", and former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, who described the directors as "haters of Israel".

Industry Support

But more than 700 members of the film industry signed a petition in support of the filmmakers, saying they were being subjected to a "campaign of incitement and vilification". Speaking to Israel's N12 channel, Israeli actor and screenwriter Shlomi Elkabetz said: "These ar..."