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Israeli Military Accused of Depraved Indifference in Gaza Attacks, Wins Venice Film Festival Prize
Confirmed
In Short: The documentary 'NAZA' has won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, highlighting Israeli military's alleged indifference to Palestinian civilian lives and the use of advanced surveillance in Gaza attacks.
According to interviewees in the film, Israeli military intelligence officials made the deliberate choice to attack residential targets in Gaza at night, after concluding it was more likely they could hit a suspected Hamas target while he was at home with his family.
Interviewees speak to an attitude they say was prevalent among IDF soldiers that allowed them to view Palestinian civilians as expendable, with one source describing a common refrain among soldiers: 'We need to erase Gaza… They deserve it.
The film suggests the number of 'NAZA' considered acceptable in each attack was elastic, ranging from under a dozen to 200 or even 500 people deemed permissible collateral damage, according to Israeli military personnel interviewed in the film.
NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the four directors of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was shot clandestinely over three years, doing the interviews under the cover of night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv to avoid potential Israeli eavesdropping.
What's confirmed
- According to interviewees in the film, Israeli military intelligence officials made the deliberate choice to attack residential targets in Gaza at night, after concluding it was more likely they could hit a suspected Hamas target while he was at home with his family.
- Interviewees speak to an attitude they say was prevalent among IDF soldiers that allowed them to view Palestinian civilians as expendable, with one source describing a common refrain among soldiers: 'We need to erase Gaza… They deserve it.
- The film suggests the number of 'NAZA' considered acceptable in each attack was elastic, ranging from under a dozen to 200 or even 500 people deemed permissible collateral damage, according to Israeli military personnel interviewed in the film.
- NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the four directors of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was shot clandestinely over three years, doing the interviews under the cover of night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv to avoid potential Israeli eavesdropping.
What's still developing
- The existence of the Lavender program, as it was called, was first.
- That statement notwithstanding, the Gaza Ministry of Health reports the IDF has killed over 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded over 173,000 since Israel launched its military retaliation after the Hamas terror attack on Israel of October 7, 2023.
- According to some of the Israeli military personnel interviewed in NAZA, Israeli snipers deliberately fired on hungry Palestinians trying to reach food distribution sites.
- Those participants are 24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers who reveal, in almost matter-of-fact tones, chilling details of a program that has caused catastrophic destruction of residential areas in Gaza, and massive loss of life among Palestinian civilians, including women and children.
- NAZA, a late addition to the competition lineup in Venice, on Saturday night won the festival’s Special Jury Prize.
- Abraham appears on camera, interviewing his subjects on the rooftop; they explain that “NAZA” is a Hebrew acronym used by the Israel Defense Forces to signify collateral damage (נזק אגבי, or Nezek Agavi, per an interview included in press notes), in other words, an acceptable loss of civilian life incurred while trying to kill suspected Hamas militants.
- NAZA, which won a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival Saturday night, is already one of the most shocking and controversial documentaries of the year.
- NAZA was enthusiastically received in Venice with a 25-minute standing ovation, an all-time record.