Israel promotes film made to counter 'NAZA'
What's the story
The Israeli government is promoting a new online film, NAZA: The Real Story, to counter the findings of the award-winning documentary NAZA. The original film, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, documents Israel's mass killings of civilians in Gaza. In response to its release, allegations of treason were made against its directors, and the Israeli government has threatened to revoke their citizenship.
Film details
How Israel is promoting the new documentary
Israeli embassies have been promoting a link to the new film, which is hosted on nazadocumentary.com.
The site was registered just days after NAZA's premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won a special jury prize.
The new documentary features interviews of anonymous individuals shot on rooftops in Tel Aviv, similar to the original documentary.
Official statement
Ministry not involved in production: Embassy
The Israeli embassy to the US, which also shared the new documentary on social media, clarified that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not involved in its production.
They claimed their intention was only to "amplify the message of its creators and expose wider audiences to arguments challenging and dismantling the blood libels and false allegations."
Synopsis distortion
Website initially claimed to be 'NAZA's promotional page
Initially, the website for NAZA: The Real Story falsely claimed to be a promotional page for the original film. It named Abraham and Szor as directors and listed film festivals where NAZA was scheduled to screen.
The synopsis of the original film was also distorted by removing references to Palestinian civilian deaths.
This wording has since been removed from recent updates of the website.
View count controversy
New documentary watched over 42 million times?
The website for NAZA: The Real Story now claims the short film has been watched over 42 million times, a figure that is starkly different from the official YouTube page that only lists 30,000 views.
When questioned about this discrepancy, Ariel Averbuch, the Israeli attorney and army reservist who made the new documentary, said he did not know and referred questions to his tech team, as per The Guardian.
Original film's content
Original film documents Israel's war on Gaza
The original documentary, NAZA, features 24 interviews with Israeli military insiders who detail how an AI-assisted apparatus of mass surveillance was activated during the Gaza war.
This system was used to target Hamas operatives, knowing that large numbers of Palestinian civilians would also die.
The Israeli military has killed over 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, in a campaign described as genocide by a United Nations commission.