Israeli, Jewish protesters rally against NYC 'NAZA' screening, display October 7 massacre footage

Screens displayed documented material contradicting claims made in the film, as well as questions regarding its sources, methodology, and production

Dozens of Israelis and Jewish Americans from the New York area held a rally in the city overnight on Sunday in front of the Lincoln Center, where a screening of the controversial film NAZA took place.

During the rally, organized by the Israeli-American Council (IAC), LED screens mounted on small trucks displayed excerpts from October 7: Bearing Witness to the Massacre - a graphic, raw documentation of the October 7 attack in Israel, which includes footage filmed by Hamas terrorists during the massacre.

Alongside this footage, the screens displayed documented material contradicting claims made in the film, as well as questions regarding its sources, methodology, and production.

Organizers stated that their goal was to counter the narrative presented by NAZA with documentation of the events of October 7, ensuring that the massacre that sparked the war is not forgotten.

"Films have editors. History does not," the IAC stated. "Our presence here is the message: We will not allow October 7 to be erased from the story."

Members of American-Israeli diaspora attend rally, protest film

Members of the Israeli-American and Jewish communities from New York and New Jersey attended the rally carrying protest signs and wearing promotional shirts. Among the participants were Nova festival survivors Rom El-Hai and Shelev Biton, alongside Younes Al-Garnaoui, an Israeli-Bedouin who saved dozens of people on October 7, including Nova survivors.

The Consul General of Israel in New York, Ofir Akunis, said regarding the campaign led by the Israeli Consulate in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry: "We will not let lies and blood libels prevail. The filmmakers are shameful individuals. We will not stand by and pass over their incitement against our heroic soldiers and the State of Israel in silence!"

The film, directed by Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra (with co-directors Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal), was screened as part of the New York Film Festival and presents testimonies from 24 soldiers and intelligence personnel about the mechanics of combat in Gaza.

Organizers say film ignores contradictory information, context of war

Protest organizers argue that the film presents the war while ignoring information that contradicts some of its claims, and without giving sufficient weight to the Hamas attack on October 7 that led to the war.

The IDF has already responded to the claims raised in the film.

"This is a complete lie," the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit stated. "The IDF has never planned, approved, or carried out a strike in Gaza where 500 civilians were expected to be killed, or anything close to that number. Furthermore, no credible claim has been raised throughout the war indicating that an IDF strike caused anything close to that number of fatalities. The filmmakers could not verify this claim; there is no real supporting evidence, yet they published it anyway."

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir also held a consultation on the matter. In a statement, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit noted that he insists this is a deliberate attempt to directly harm the legitimacy of the IDF and the State of Israel.

He added that the IDF operates in accordance with international law, the spirit of the IDF, and its core values, leading efforts to minimize civilian casualties with a significantly lower ratio of civilian-to-combatant harm compared to other militaries around the world.