Netanyahu steps up threats against directors of Gaza documentary 'NAZA'

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to pass a law to revoke the citizenship of anyone who defames Israel's soldiers, his latest threat against the Israeli directors of "NAZA", a documentary about soldiers' killing of Gaza civilians.

Directed by Israeli journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, NAZA alleges that mass civilian deaths were routinely built into Israeli targeting decisions in Gaza, something Netanyahu and the military reject.

The film, which won a major prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, takes its title from an Israeli military term for expected "collateral casualties" and is built around anonymous interviews with intelligence officers and soldiers.

It has drawn a backlash in Israel, with the military examining potential legal action against those involved in it. But it has also played into the charged political atmosphere ahead of Israel's Oct 27 election, which public opinion polls show Netanyahu's right-wing coalition could lose.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu accused some of his election rivals of failing to take a tough stand against the documentary, saying this made them unfit for office. And on Wednesday, he pledged to advance two bills that he said aimed at addressing the "immense damage" done to Israeli soldiers.

"The first, to revoke the citizenship of anyone who defames (Israeli) soldiers, and the second to hit them in their pockets and increase the statutory damages for defamation they can be sued for by 20 times," Netanyahu said in a social media video.

"We will hit them both in their pockets and in their citizenship, as their place is not with us."

Netanyahu cited three incidents in proposing the bills: "the recent film NAZA which portrayed (Israeli) officers and soldiers as war criminals"; 2025 remarks by left-wing ex-general turned politician Yair Golan that "a sane country does not kill children as a hobby"; and a military legal officer's 2024 leak of a video showing soldiers abusing a Gaza detainee.

Reuters could not immediately reach the NAZA filmmakers for comment.

In 2022, Israel's Supreme Court upheld a law that permits stripping citizenship from Israelis who carry out actions that constitute a breach of trust against the state. Any new legislation would likely face similar court challenges.

The NAZA filmmakers say they believe it is important that Israelis watch the documentary and grapple with the narrative it presents.

Gaza health authorities say more than 73,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's military campaign that has left much of Gaza in ruins.

The war was triggered by Hamas' Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel which kill