Israeli minister seeks to strip citizenship of 'NAZA' film directors
Israel's culture minister has vowed to revoke the citizenship of the two directors of Gaza war documentary 'NAZA' after it won a special jury award at Venice.
A documentary film on the Gaza war has triggered a major political controversy in Israel. The film, titled 'NAZA', won the Special Jury Award at the Venice Film Festival, but soon after, Israel's culture minister Miki Zohar reacted angrily. He announced that he would immediately begin action to revoke the Israeli citizenship of the film's two directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. The minister has directly accused the two filmmakers of treason.
The roughly 80-minute documentary raises serious allegations related to the war in Gaza and the deaths of civilians there. It is reported that the directors took statements from 24 former officers and whistleblowers linked to the Israeli army and intelligence agencies for the film. The film raises questions about how artificial intelligence and target-identification systems were used during the attacks on Gaza.
When the film was screened at the Venice Film Festival, it received continuous applause for about 25 minutes after the screening. It was following this that the film was given the Special Jury Award.
After the award, Miki Zohar strongly criticised the film, saying the directors were tarnishing Israel's image in pursuit of international acclaim. He called it treason against the country and said that, as culture minister, he would take immediate steps to have their citizenship revoked. Following the minister's statement, a fresh debate has broken out in Israel over films, freedom of expression and the right to criticise the government. Some other leaders have also made strongly worded statements against the filmmakers.
However, despite the minister's demand, citizenship cannot be revoked so easily. In Israel, revoking citizenship requires going through a legal process, which may also require court approval. Attention is now on what action actually follows Zohar's announcement.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army has denied the allegations made in 'NAZA'. Questions are also being raised about the credibility of some of the claims made in the film and its anonymous sources. The controversy that began after the award is thus no longer confined to the film alone, and appears to be turning into a political and legal battle.
