Threatening film makers because Israel “can’t handle the truth”
JVL Introduction
Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham are Israelis, who, together with Palestinians Bazel Adra and Hamdan Ballal had made the film “No Other Land” which won an Oscar. Szor and Abraham have made a new film “Naza” comprising testimony from 24 Israeli soldiers who were deployed in Gaza. It was premiered to great acclaim in Venice. The soldiers’ testimony is about the deliberate targeting of civilians and whole neighbourhoods and this has sent Israeli leaders and many citizens into overdrive even though the information is not new (see some of the links below).
An opinion piece in Ha’aretz notes that if the world listened to Palestinians, this film wouldn’t be necessary.These Israeli directors have tried to use their privilege to speak and be heard when Palestinian voices are not. The film has not even been shown in Israel but, eg the +972 and Local Call offices have been attacked and direct threats have been made to the two film directors, with protests outside their homes. One could imagine that these are only the acts of a few right wing extremists with Calling to ‘Execute Traitors’ Outside Filmmaker’s Family Home, but it is government leaders who have threatened to remove their Israeli citizenship.
The reaction to showing the truth is the most telling indictment of Israel as a State and also as a society. Hysteria is the only appropriate word. Perhaps, as the Guardian article hopes (the NAZA film is a Guardian production), it may prompt (some) Israelis to talk about Gaza.
Below it is an interview with Yuval Abraham by a supposedly progressive Israeli interviewer who says that he would not broadcast the film. There is also support for them as Over a Thousand Israeli Filmmakers Sign Petition Supporting ‘NAZA’ Creators
This article was originally published by The Guardian on Sat 19 Sep 2026. Read the original here.
From ovations in Venice to death threats in Israel: the extreme responses to NAZA documentary
As Gaza documentary wins cinematic acclaim, its directors face vitriol in Israel amid a febrile election campaign
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“Critics in Israel seized on the longstanding idea that Israelis should not criticise their country in front of foreign audiences …” I think the unwillingness to hear any criticism of Israel’s behaviour towards the Palestinians and of the IDF has gone A LOT FURTHER than that.
I’m hugely impressed by the range and depth of the articles in one of Israel’s more prestigious newspapers. It’s incongruent that such a good newspaper attracts a seemingly predominantly racist, extremist readership, one that’s deeply hostile to anything but their own opinions.
Posters’ favoured insults include “Marxist”, “universalist”, “kapo”, etc. Organisations like Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, the UN, EU and the “Guardian” are enemies and tellers of lies.
The (moderated, edited as necessary) posts include vile enthusiasm for the mass murder of Gazans (of any age) and refusal even to acknowledge the existence of Palestinians as an ethnic group, let alone consider their rights to their ancestral land.
The IDF is courageous, everything it does is right. There are no war crimes and no genocide. International laws don’t apply to Israel because of what Hamas (supposedly) did 7 Oct 2023 and because their fighters don’t wear uniforms.
I hope that we will soon be able to see this film here. A North London Peaceniks showing asap? More widely through Bertha Dochouse in the Curzon cinemas? Or better still at meetings up and down the UK. The directors should be given political asylum here if they want to take it (there are probably better places to live right now)..
Don’t miss the video interview below the Guardian article. Yuval Abraham responds brilliantly to a supposedly left wing Israeli journalist attempting to justify failing to cover the NAZA practices which have killed thousands of Palestinians over the past three years.