Israel Promotes Film Mimicking the Documentary NAZA
Israeli embassies are sharing an online film that imitates the style of the documentary NAZA in an effort to counter its findings. The real film's directors, Abraham and Szor, face accusations of treason and calls to revoke their citizenship.
The Israeli government is backing an online film project that copies the style of NAZA, the award-winning documentary about Israel's mass killing of civilians in Gaza. The new film tries to undermine the original's conclusions.
The real film and the government's response
NAZA was directed by Oscar-winning film-makers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and produced by the Guardian. It is showing in cinemas and will be screened in more than 50 countries. The Israeli government has denounced it and announced plans to strip both directors of their citizenship, accusing them of treason.
NAZA: The Real Story
In recent days, Israeli embassies have promoted a link to a hastily made film called NAZA: The Real Story, hosted at nazadocumentary.com. It borrows elements of the original's style, including anonymised interviews filmed on Tel Aviv rooftops. Its maker, Ariel Averbuch, an Israeli attorney and army reservist, called it an "offensive move" meant to move attention toward the claim that Israel has the "most moral army in the world".
The domain was registered on 16 September, six days after NAZA premiered at the Venice film festival. The site first falsely presented itself as a promotional page for NAZA, naming Abraham and Szor as directors. It was later turned into a platform for the rival film. Its counter shows more than 42m views, while the official YouTube page lists about 30,000. A technical analysis suggested the counter may track requests to the site rather than actual viewers. Averbuch said he did not know where the figure came from.
The Israeli embassy to the US said the foreign ministry was not involved in making the film. A Guardian spokesperson called the effort a brazen attempt to mislead audiences.
Threats against the film-makers
Israel's ministry of culture has announced a formal investigation. Demonstrators gathered outside the home of Szor's parents, and a mural showing the directors in a gun's sights appeared in Ashdod. A far-right activist is raising funds for a team to "chase" Abraham. NAZA will be free on the Guardian's website from late November.
