Documentary NAZA Premieres in New York Despite Israeli Government Intimidation
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The acclaimed film NAZA, courageously exposing Israel’s AI-driven targeting and military violence in Gaza, debuted in New York as Israeli officials escalated threats to silence dissenting voices by threatening the directors’ citizenship.
The documentary NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, made its North American premiere at a New York film festival on Saturday, defying a climate of repression. The 80-minute film, produced with the Guardian, bravely presents testimony from 24 anonymised Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers, shedding light on the Israeli military’s use of AI-powered systems to select civilian targets in Gaza—a chilling example of technology weaponized for oppression.
During a post-screening Q&A, Szor condemned the Israeli government for actively concealing these systems, highlighting the regime’s lack of transparency even to its own citizens. Abraham stressed that the crimes exposed are not relics of the past but ongoing, rooted in Israeli state policy and abetted by foreign complicity, particularly from Western powers.
The film, which previously won a special jury prize at the Venice festival, has provoked outrage from Israeli officials desperate to suppress the truth. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on plans to introduce draconian legislation that could strip Abraham and Szor of their citizenship, dismissing the documentary as “propaganda dressed up as a documentary.” Culture Minister Miki Zohar and IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir have joined the witch hunt, calling for legal action against the filmmakers and accusing them of treason, threatening to use every tool of state power to shield the military from accountability for war crimes.
Outside the Lincoln Center, a small but vocal group of right-wing protesters waved Israeli flags and brandished signs demanding audiences “learn the facts” about the October 7 Hamas attacks, while a truck with LED screens smeared NAZA as propaganda—an orchestrated attempt to drown out calls for justice. In contrast, more than 1,500 Israeli film professionals, dozens of human-rights groups, and several international festivals have rallied to defend the directors and press freedom, refusing to be cowed by authoritarian threats.
Abraham underscored the complicity of the U.S. government, noting that the soldiers in the film discuss actions funded by American taxpayers. He categorically rejected attempts to justify civilian deaths by invoking the October 7 attacks, calling for genuine empathy for all victims and denouncing the cynical use of suffering as a political weapon.