Netanyahu orders probe and prosecution of soldiers in NAZA documentary

The order to identify and prosecute

Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military, the Shin Bet security service and the attorney general to open an investigation, reveal the identities and bring to court the participants in NAZA, a documentary about the mass killing of civilians in Gaza told through testimony. The order was issued on Sunday, 11 October, in a statement from his office that his official account also posted on X. In a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, IDF chief of staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir and Shin Bet head David Zini, he demanded that they:

act urgently to uncover the identity of all those who are involved or appear in the libel film

Netanyahu also called for the opening of a criminal investigation and prosecution for serious information security offences, criminal defamation, and harm to Israel's diplomatic and security interests. His statement said the film builds a false, misleading and biased narrative that damages Israel's image. Haaretz reported that the letter also voiced concern that participants had disclosed highly confidential information and created a security breach in a highly sensitive intelligence unit.

The film and its premiere

NAZA was directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and produced by The Guardian. It draws on testimony from 24 soldiers and intelligence officers who appear anonymously, with their faces digitally hidden, in interviews filmed at night on a Tel Aviv rooftop. The title is an acronym Israeli intelligence uses for the number of civilians it expects to be killed in an airstrike, such as "20 NAZA". The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 10 September, where it won the special jury prize after a 25-minute ovation, and The Guardian described it as the longest ovation in the festival's history. Its cinema release in more than 50 countries runs on 12 and 13 October, with 500 screenings in France across those two days, and the film is to be available free online later on The Guardian's website.

Government and military response

The Israeli government has attacked the directors fiercely, threatening to strip them of their citizenship and accusing them of treason. Zamir denounced the film as an "attack on the state of Israel" and accused it of spreading "lies and blood libels". He had earlier ordered military and legal officials to identify the soldiers featured and examine possible legal action against them. Government supporters picketed the Savyon home of Szor's parents, chanting "Death sentence to traitors". Culture minister Miki Zohar has threatened to cut funding to cinemas that screen the film, which has not been released in Israel. Israeli embassies are sharing a rival production, NAZA, la verdadera historia, which its author Ariel Averbuch describes as an offensive manoeuvre to show that the Israeli army is the most moral in the world.

Legal limits and the election backdrop

The military advocate general, Itai Ofir, said that criminal prosecution would require evidence of security violations or disclosure of classified material, although disciplinary measures remained possible. The Guardian noted that protecting journalistic sources is a cornerstone of press freedom under international human rights standards, and that disclosure orders are permitted only under stringent conditions. Observador reported that the film has been especially uncomfortable for Netanyahu's government because it opened a few weeks before Israel's legislative elections, scheduled for 27 October. No source reports a timetable for the investigation Netanyahu requested.