Minister accuses directors of treason over Gaza film

Israeli Minister of Culture Miki Zohar on Sunday called for the award-winning directors of an Israeli-made Gaza documentary to be stripped of citizenship, accusing them of “treason against the state.”

In NAZA, Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor spoke to 24 different Israeli military or intelligence whistle-blowers who outlined the artificial intelligence-powered targeting systems used to bombard Gaza that have killed tens of thousands of civilians.

The 80-minute documentary won a special jury prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival in Italy.

Israeli directors Rachel Szor, left, and Yuval Abraham hold the Special Jury Prize for their film NAZA during the closing ceremony of the 83rd annual Venice International Film Festival in Italy on Saturday.

Photo: EPA

Zohar accused the directors of being willing to “harm their homeland in order to receive applause from anti-Semites around the world.”

“I will act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these despicable creators for treason against the state,” he added on social media.

Other Israeli ministers also took aim at the directors, who last year won an Oscar for their film No Other Land about Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

“You are a disgrace and an embarrassment to the entire people of Israel. Go away!” far-right Israeli Ministry of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on social media.

“I am certain that your friends, that is to say our enemies Hamas in Gaza, will welcome you with open arms,” he wrote.

The revocation of nationality is legally possible in Israel, although it is rarely applied.

In 2022, the Israeli Supreme Court confirmed that the state may strip people of their nationality if they have failed to show “loyalty,” for example by committing acts of espionage or treason.

The law was also expanded in 2023 to apply to people convicted of “terrorism.”

The law requires the Israeli minister of the interior to submit the revocation request, the justice minister to approve it and judges to validate it.

Abraham said that “the Israeli intelligence officers we spoke with talked to us about how this mass killing is systemic: not by accident, but by design, actions of murder and policies that are based on the total dehumanization of Palestinians.”

The Israeli military has criticized the use of anonymous testimonies in the film, saying on Friday that the identities of the whistleblowers “cannot be verified.”