After the Venice award, two Israeli ministers call for measures against the directors of «NAZA»

The morning edition covered the Emmys and the Venice awards from the perspective of the prizes. The afternoon adds a story the morning did not have: the Israeli political reaction to one of the films awarded at the Lido.

“NAZA,” a documentary by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, won the Special Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice Film Festival on Saturday, September 12. It runs eighty minutes, was filmed at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv, and is based on clandestine interviews with 24 people, including Israeli military intelligence officers, soldiers and individuals who chose to blow the whistle from within, on the use of artificial intelligence systems in selecting targets in Gaza. The title refers to an Israeli military acronym indicating the number of civilians expected to be killed in an air strike.

The two statements

On Sunday, Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sport Miki Zohar announced on X that he will work to revoke the two directors’ Israeli citizenship, accusing them of betraying the State. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called them a disgrace and invited them to leave the country:

“You are a disgrace and an embarrassment to the entire people of Israel. Leave!” (transl. from Hebrew) — Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s Minister of National Security

The legal limit of the announcement

There is one element that separates the announcement from the act, and it is the point that makes the affair legible even outside Israeli political debate. Stripping an Israeli citizen of citizenship does not, under the country’s legal system, fall among the acts the Culture minister can carry out alone: the procedure provided for goes through the Interior Ministry and judicial review. The Interior Ministry has not officially commented on Zohar’s request.

At this stage, then, it is a statement of intent by a government member on a matter outside his authority. This newspaper does not cover judicial proceedings and will not do so here either: we are recording the public statements of two ministers in their public roles and the regulatory framework that governs them, without anticipating outcomes.

Who the award-winning authors are

Abraham and Szor had co-directed “No Other Land,” awarded the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2025. This is the second major international recognition for the pair of filmmakers, and it explains why the Venice award had immediate political repercussions: this is not a film destined to circulate only at festivals.

On the aim of the work, Abraham has stated a wish for Israelis themselves to see the documentary, arguing that denying a crime is what allows it to persist.

What we don’t know

We do not know whether Zohar’s statement will be followed by a formal request to the Interior Ministry, nor in what form. We do not know what the position of the Israeli government as a whole is: the available sources report individual statements by two ministers, not a collective stance. We do not have a response from the directors to the two ministers’ words, nor a reaction from the Venice Biennale.

On the content of the film, finally, this newspaper is not in a position to independently verify the claims of the 24 people interviewed regarding the use of artificial intelligence in target selection: we report that the documentary is based on those testimonies, not that the testimonies have been corroborated. The distinction is not a formality — it is the same one we apply to the ministers’ statements.

The sources for this piece are listed below: they report the messages posted on X by the two ministers and the festival’s list of winners. On Zohar’s announcement, the Interior Ministry — the department with authority over the procedure — has so far issued no official comments.

Sources: Euronews; The National; TheWrap; Time News