'NAZA' and the broader campaign to stigmatize Israel, Zionism - opinion

I may be reading too much into this assumption, but I found it strange that Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor named their film NAZA. They explain that it is the abbreviation for the Hebrew term “nezek agavi,” which translates to “collateral damage.” But there are problems with that.

Their previous film was No Other Land about Masafer Yatta in the Southern Hebron Hills, which was awarded an Oscar, so we know they find using normal English terminology not problematic. Their new film could have been listed as Collateral Damage, making things easier for the audience.

During my military service, I never heard that NAZA term, so I cannot attest to its proper pronunciation. Nevertheless, if the Hebrew is nezek, why not NEZA? Could it be that they desired a rhyme with Gaza? Or worse, perhaps they wished to convey a sublimated message of Nazi?

Of course, if the purpose of the film is to provide “evidence” that would further a campaign of stigmatization, ostracism, demonization and social exclusion, all to portray Israel and Zionism as a pariah society, then perhaps I am on the mark.

The Internet Movie Database lists several UK Guardian newspaper employees as “producers.” They include Harry Davies, an investigations correspondent; Lindsay Poulton, that newspaper’s head of documentaries; Paul Lewis, head of investigations; and Nicole Jackson, the global head of multimedia.

The Guardian, unlike its forerunner, the Manchester Guardian, is virulently anti-Zionist and anti-Israel in its reporting, its editorial line, and its almost total exclusion of pro-Israel/Zionist voices in its comments section. Both CAMERA and HonestReporting, as well as my own observations, have proven that point overwhelmingly.

Was the newspaper, for all intents and purposes, a co-producer? Were Abraham and Szor agents of a foreign entity?

NAZA is not my subject, but it serves as an example of the situation not only Israel, but Diaspora Jewry as well, are facing. The Talmud already had a fit description of this situation.

As we read in Aramaic in Tractate Shabbat of the Babylonian Talmud, 32A: “When the ox falls, the knives are sharpened.”

A decades-long effort to malign Jewish national identity and to deny to Jews the right to renewed independent political sovereignty and, as the League of Nations 1922 decision termed it, the right to reconstitute our national home based on the Jewish people’s historical connection with that country, is approaching what our opponents think is a tipping point.

As Malcolm Gladwell defined the term, it is that moment when small actions by special people can make big changes happen fast. What decides the moment when a trend will tip, and today’s trend is the elimination of Israel through the liberation of an Arab Palestine, includes special people (connectors and mavens), the right environment, and, as well, a “stickiness” characteristic.

Social and political epidemic

Especially since October 7, three years ago, we have witnessed a coming-together phenomenon of a social and political epidemic that is pulling that tipping point closer. This formation of the necessary critical mass incorporates not only an acceptance of the idea and justness of a Free Palestine but its parallel facilitators: the dislike and hatred, and even a contempt, for the Jews.

Remove the Jewish factor from the support for the cause of a liberated Arab Palestine, and we are left with situations such as occupied Northern Cyprus, the Uyghurs in China, the Kurds in Turkey/Iraq/Syria, and a dozen other national or ethnic struggles that no one pays attention to for long, if at all.

Moreover, similar to the remarkable ignorance and lack of rational thinking that is required to be an antisemite, we see the same unfamiliarity with 100 years of Arab terror, the continuum of Jewish presence in the Land of Israel for 3,000 years, and the truth about the Arab Muslim conquest and occupation of Judea in 638 CE, among other myths and balderdash.

On one side, there are the Marxist progressives and cosmopolitan ideologues, and on the other, right-wing or Christian nationalists. In Manhattan on September 11, members of the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Party were seen giving a Seig Heil salute while chanting “Heil Hitler” and “Free Palestine.” Bright red swastika symbols adorned their armbands.

Dan Bilzerian ran for a congressional seat, and Candace Owens employs “Satan synagogues” and other foul antisemitic language and imagery. Nick Fuentes has written how, supposedly, “Zionists have started amplifying anti-immigration, anti-Muslim rhetoric to distract right-wingers from the Iran War” back in March.

We are in a renewed era of mass shallow thinking. The institutions of higher learning have been captured, and it is not that so many are uneducated, but that they are miseducated as well as denigrating those who suggest there is another version of the narrative.

Personalities with an outreach of millions have become those who control the media and distribute corrupt messaging. Tucker Carlson is one example of the stage-managing of a resurrected medieval disputation framework between a church figure, even if the person is non-religious or even Jewish, and the Zionist representative, always non-present.

At least Nachmanides merited confronting Pablo Christiani, a French Jewish convert, in Barcelona protected by King James of Aragon. Now, Israelis and Jews can’t freely walk about there safely or in many other European locations.

These fanatics will yet regret their contempt, and we will see their defeat. That, however, depends to a great degree on the counter-campaigning of Israel and those who identify with her.

Unity, coordination, and commitment are required, as well as a grasp of what is at stake.

The writer is a researcher, analyst, and commentator on political, cultural, and media issues.