{"id":879822,"date":"2026-10-12T15:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/879822\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T15:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:58:14","slug":"naza-netanyahu-orders-identification-and-prosecution-of-films-interviewees-naza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/879822\/","title":{"rendered":"NAZA: Netanyahu orders identification and prosecution of film\u2019s interviewees | NAZA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered the country\u2019s attorney general and the head of the Shin Bet security service to reveal the identities of soldiers and officers interviewed in the investigative documentary NAZA<\/a> and prosecute them for causing \u201charm to Israel\u2019s diplomatic and security interests\u201d.<\/p>\n

The award-winning documentary, directed by the Oscar-winning film-makers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and produced by the Guardian, details Israel\u2019s mass killing of civilians in Gaza. The film is in cinemas, including in the UK and the US, and will be shown in more than 50 countries.<\/p>\n

In a letter addressed to the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, the IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, and the Shin Bet head, David Zini, the Israeli prime minister demanded<\/a> they \u201cact urgently to uncover the identity of all those who are involved or appear in the libel film\u201d.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu also called for \u201cthe opening of a criminal investigation and prosecution for serious information security offences, criminal defamation, and harming Israel\u2019s diplomatic and security interests\u201d.<\/p>\n

NAZA premiered last month at the Venice international film festival, where it won the special jury prize<\/a> after receiving the longest ovation in the event\u2019s history. It takes its name from an acronym used euphemistically by Israeli intelligence to indicate how many civilians it expects to be killed in an airstrike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NAZA\u2019s directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, won the special jury prize at the Venice film festival last month. Photograph: Capital Pictures\/Alamy Stock Photo\/Alamy Live News.<\/p>\n

The Israeli government has fiercely attacked Abraham and Szor, threatening to strip them of their citizenship<\/a> and accusing them of treason. Government supporters have vowed to hound the film-makers on their return to Israel and picketed Szor\u2019s parents\u2019 home in Savyon, chanting: \u201cDeath sentence to traitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zamir denounced the film as an \u201cattack on the state of Israel\u201d, accusing it of spreading \u201clies and blood libels\u201d<\/a>. He had earlier ordered military and legal officials to identify the soldiers featured and examine possible legal action against them. However, the military advocate general, Itai Ofir, said criminal prosecution would require evidence of security violations or disclosure of classified material, although disciplinary measures remained possible.<\/p>\n

The protection of journalistic sources is a cornerstone of press freedom under international human rights standards and disclosure orders are permitted only under stringent conditions.<\/p>\n

Ricardo Guti\u00e9rrez, the general secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, representing over 320,000 journalists, said: \u201cThese threats constitute a blatant act of intimidation against journalists who have simply been doing their job, in strict accordance with ethical standards and in the public interest. I am not surprised by this outburst, which confirms that this regime is prepared to do anything to cover up its crimes against humanity and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Guardian spokesperson said: \u201cAfter first threatening to strip NAZA\u2019s directors of their Israeli citizenship, the Israeli government is now calling for an investigation into their journalistic sources. These moves are all attempts to distract from the urgent questions the film asks about the mass killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Journalists should be free to pursue public interest investigations without threats or harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graffiti depicting Abraham and Szor, and the word \u2018traitors\u2019 in Hebrew, appeared on a wall in Ashdod, southern Israel, after NAZA was awarded the special jury prize at the Venice film festival. Photograph: Amir Cohen\/Reuters<\/p>\n

NAZA builds on revelations first published by the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine, the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call and the Guardian between 2023 and 2025. Earlier this month, a Guardian spokesperson said the \u201cprocess of assessing the credibility of the testimonies was rigorous. It included leaked classified documents, detailed verification of specific strikes and corroboration via a wider pool of confidential journalistic sources who did not appear on camera in the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past three years the team behind the film has \u201cinterviewed more than 100 sources<\/a> familiar with IDF systems used in the war in Gaza, including senior-ranking commanders directly involved in the authorisation of strikes\u201d, the Guardian spokesperson added.<\/p>\n

In recent days, the Israeli government has promoted an online film project<\/a> that mimics the style of NAZA, in an attempt to challenge the real film\u2019s findings. Ariel Averbuch, an Israeli attorney and army reservist who made NAZA: The Real Story, described it as an \u201coffensive move\u201d intended to shift the world\u2019s focus from allegations about the Israeli military\u2019s killing of civilians.<\/p>\n

Film industry heavyweights across the globe, including the heads of the Locarno film festival, have expressed solidarity with Abraham and Szor<\/a>, saying they stood \u201cfirmly in support of film-makers\u2019 rights to pursue difficult and urgent subjects without fear of reprisal\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered the country\u2019s attorney general and the head of the Shin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-879822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}