{"id":627054,"date":"2026-09-17T02:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T02:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627054\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T02:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T02:14:16","slug":"netanyahu-threatens-gaza-documentary-directors-over-naza-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627054\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu threatens Gaza documentary directors over NAZA film"},"content":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM \u2013 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sept 16 to pass a law to revoke the citizenship of anyone who defames Israel\u2019s soldiers<\/a>, his latest threat against the Israeli directors of NAZA, a documentary about soldiers\u2019 killing of Gaza civilians.<\/p>\n

Directed by Israeli journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, NAZA alleges that mass civilian deaths were routinely built into Israeli targeting decisions in Gaza, something Netanyahu and the military reject.<\/p>\n

The film, which won a major prize at the Venice Film Festival on <\/a>Sept 12<\/a>, takes its title from an Israeli military term for expected \u201ccollateral casualties\u201d and is built around anonymous interviews with intelligence officers and soldiers.<\/p>\n

It has drawn a backlash in Israel, with the military examining potential legal action against those involved in it. But it has also played into the charged political atmosphere ahead of Israel\u2019s Oct 27 election<\/a>, which public opinion polls show Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing coalition could lose.<\/p>\n

On Sept 15, Netanyahu accused some of his election rivals of failing to take a tough stand against the documentary, saying this made them unfit for office. And on Sept 16, he pledged to advance two Bills that he said aimed at addressing the \u201cimmense damage\u201d done to Israeli soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first, to revoke the citizenship of anyone who defames (Israeli) soldiers, and the second to hit them in their pockets and increase the statutory damages for defamation they can be sued for by 20 times,\u201d Netanyahu said in a social media video.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will hit them both in their pockets and in their citizenship, as their place is not with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netanyahu cited three incidents in proposing the Bills: \u201cthe recent film NAZA which portrayed (Israeli) officers and soldiers as war criminals\u201d; 2025 remarks by left-wing ex-general turned politician Yair Golan that \u201ca sane country does not kill children as a hobby\u201d; and a military legal officer\u2019s 2024 leak of a video showing soldiers abusing a Gaza detainee.<\/p>\n

Reuters could not immediately reach the NAZA filmmakers for comment.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Israel\u2019s Supreme Court upheld a law that permits stripping citizenship from Israelis who carry out actions that constitute a breach of trust against the state. Any new legislation would likely face similar court challenges.<\/p>\n

The NAZA filmmakers say they believe it is important that Israelis watch the documentary and grapple with the narrative it presents.<\/p>\n

Gaza health authorities say more than 73,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed <\/a>in Israel\u2019s military campaign that has left much of Gaza in ruins.<\/p>\n

The war was triggered by Hamas\u2019 Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel which killed 1,200 people<\/a>, most of them civilians, according to Israeli tallies. REUTERS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JERUSALEM \u2013 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sept 16 to pass a law to revoke the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":["post-627054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}