Naza filmmakers and their families face threats and harrassment

Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham

The filmmakers of Naza, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, together with their families, have been facing severe legal threats, political retaliation, and aggressive far-right harassment in Israel. This backlash erupted immediately after their documentary, which uses interviews with Israeli military insiders to expose AI-powered civilian targeting in Gaza, won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival.

Far-right Israeli activists have gathered outside the home of Rachel Szor's parents in the town of Savyon, demanding that the family be expelled from the country and their homes sealed.

Protesters have chanted slogans such as "death penalty for traitors" and demanded that the filmmakers be tried and executed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced the film as anti-Semitic incitement. Following this, Culture Minister Miki Zohar accused the directors of "treason" and began taking immediate steps to investigate revoking Abraham and Szor's Israeli citizenship.

Netanyahu is now advancing two legislative bills specifically aimed at penalising individuals accused of defaming Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli army is looking into taking legal against the filmmakers and anyone involved in the production.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued an urgent appeal for Israeli authorities to stop the rhetoric, warning that the official government incitement has put the lives of Abraham, Szor, and their families in imminent danger.

More than 700 Israeli filmmakers and international figures have signed a petition standing in solidarity with the directors, warning that the state-led campaign is moving dangerously close to "effectively sanctioning violence" against them.

The International Federation of Journalists report that at past 267 journalists and media workers have been killed since October 7 2023. (An estimated 67-69 journalists were killed during World War Two)