‘Nothing in the film is true’: MKs, politicians denounce NAZA film creators as 'Israel haters'

Israeli politicians and public figures sharply clashed on Monday over NAZA, the Gaza war documentary by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, as criticism of the film intensified following its award at the Venice Film Festival and the IDF's rejection of its allegations.

The dispute widened after Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar said he would seek to revoke Abraham and Szor's Israeli citizenship, accusing the filmmakers of committing an "act of treason against the state." The directors' film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival after attracting international attention for allegations concerning IDF targeting practices and civilian casualties in Gaza.

Former Likud MK Tally Gotliv, who recently joined Otzma Yehudit, accused Abraham and Szor of fabricating claims against Israel, arguing that the military should have responded more forcefully.

"The disgraceful film, which severely and mortally harms the resilience of the state and the resilience of the military, is not based on soldiers' testimonies," Gotliv wrote. "It is a complete invention by Israel-haters from within."

"Nothing in the film is true. A disgraceful lie," she added.

Gotliv said this should have been the IDF's response to the film and criticized Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir over what she described as their silence.

"Your terrible silence only magnifies the horrific damage caused by this false film, which is based on Playmobil soldiers and not IDF soldiers," she wrote.

The IDF has, however, publicly rejected the documentary's central allegations. The military said that NAZA relied on anonymous testimonies whose identities, military service, positions, and involvement in the events described could not be independently verified. It also challenged claims attributed to junior personnel about strategic decisions that the military said were outside their areas of responsibility.

The documentary, which premiered at the Venice festival on Thursday, is based on interviews with 24 Israelis presented as soldiers and intelligence personnel involved in the Israel-Hamas War. Its creators alleged that Israeli targeting practices resulted in systematic mass civilian casualties, which the IDF has rejected.

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman accused Abraham and Szor of turning the war that followed the October 7 massacre into what he described as a campaign of defamation against Israel and the IDF.

"Israel-haters Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who call themselves 'directors,' took the war that was forced on Israel after the October 7 massacre and turned it into a campaign of slander and blood libels against the State of Israel, against the IDF, and against our wonderful soldiers," Liberman wrote.

"There are people who, for a moment of fame and applause at a festival, are willing to sell their country," he continued.

Liberman said the filmmakers represented only a small minority and accused international festival circles of rewarding works that attack Israel.

"They know very well that without a film that smears Israel and the IDF, nobody would know who they are," he wrote. "When there is no talent, you build a career at the expense of your country."

Former IDF chief of staff and Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot also condemned the filmmakers, saying their presentation of the war was distorted and morally damaging.

"IDF soldiers and commanders have been conducting an extraordinarily difficult and just war for almost three years against a cruel enemy that massacred, raped, and kidnapped children, women, and men on the morning of October 7," Eisenkot wrote.

"The choice by Israeli creators to stand on an international stage, present a distorted and one-sided picture, and cast a moral stain on the soldiers who are defending the country is moral blindness, detachment from reality, and harm to the State of Israel at a difficult time," he continued.

"Criticism is legitimate in a democratic society, but there is an enormous distance between that and smearing the names of our soldiers in order to reap applause at festivals abroad," he wrote.

Yoseph Haddad: Film rewards attacks on Israel

Arab-Israeli activist and People of Israel member Yoseph Haddad also condemned Abraham and Szor, saying their international recognition should not be regarded as an Israeli achievement.

"Meet Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two Israeli citizens who won an award yesterday at the Venice Film Festival," Haddad wrote. "But no, this is absolutely not Israeli pride. It is anti-Israel pride."

Haddad accused the filmmakers of making a "repulsive film whose entire purpose is to accuse the IDF of genocide," criticizing its reliance on testimony that he said could not be verified because witnesses were unnamed.

He rejected the documentary's characterization of Israeli military conduct, arguing that the IDF had sought to avoid harming uninvolved civilians while fighting Hamas in a densely populated urban environment where the terrorist organization operated among civilians.

"They know the formula for an international award is a film that smears the IDF," Haddad wrote, referring to the lengthy applause NAZA received in Venice.

"And the damage to the image of the State of Israel around the world? For them, that's collateral damage," he added. "And maybe that's their real goal in the first place."

Haddad also criticized what he described as the film's treatment of the October 7 massacre, which triggered the war.

"Two dangerous hypocrites," Haddad concluded. "They are not worthy of the heroism and sacrifice of IDF soldiers, and above all, they are not worthy of being citizens of the State of Israel."

Lazimi attacks Zohar's proposed citizenship move

Democrats MK Naama Lazimi, meanwhile, directed her criticism not at the film but at Zohar's response to it, ridiculing the minister's proposal to strip the filmmakers of their citizenship.

"So Miki Zohar wants to revoke the citizenship of the creators of NAZA, for nothing less than treason," Lazimi wrote. "This is madness in its purest form. You really don't need 'public diplomacy terror attacks' when you have ministers like these."

Lazimi contrasted Zohar's demand with a series of accusations against the government, including allegations surrounding Qatari influence in the Prime Minister's Office and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pre-October 7 policies toward Hamas.

She further accused the government of presiding over the October 7 massacre, the deaths of hundreds of soldiers during the war, failures in caring for Israelis traumatized by the attack and fighting, rising violent crime, and damage to Israel's international standing.

"A failed government that abandoned its citizens and harmed the country, its security, and the citizens of Israel more than anyone," she wrote. "Get out of our lives."