Israel promotes film that mimics NAZA documentary

What Happened

The Israeli government and its embassies are promoting a counter-documentary, 'NAZA: The Real Story', hosted at nazadocumentary.com and produced by Israeli attorney and army reservist Ariel Averbuch with Roi Danino listed. The site initially presented itself as an official page for the original NAZA documentary by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, even naming them as directors and distorting the film's synopsis to remove references to Palestinian civilian deaths. Domain registration on 16 September came six days after NAZA's Venice premiere, where it won the special jury prize. Israeli government officials have denounced NAZA, announced plans to strip Abraham and Szor of citizenship and accused them of treason; the government later said it awarded the counter-film's creators a certificate of appreciation and claimed tens of millions of views, though a technical analysis suggests the 42m viewer counter was likely driven by bots rather than actual views. The original NAZA, produced by the Guardian, is based on 24 interviews with Israeli military insiders and details an AI-assisted mass surveillance apparatus used to target Hamas operatives with knowledge that large numbers of Palestinian civilians would also die. The article states the Israeli military has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, and says a United Nations commission described the campaign as genocide.

Key Actors

Why It Matters

The promotion of a mimic documentary is an information warfare operation against accountability for Gaza war conduct. By imitating the original NAZA and initially misattributing its content, the counter-film seeks to neutralize evidence of AI-assisted targeting and mass civilian casualties, just as the original documentary reaches more than 50 countries. The Israeli government's threats against the directors—including citizenship stripping, a culture ministry investigation, death penalty demonstrations, and a far-right activist's call to 'chase' Abraham—demonstrate the state and non-state pressure facing those who expose military systems. This occurs while international legal bodies have described the Gaza campaign as genocide, making the disinformation effort strategically significant beyond the film itself.

Watch For

Monitor whether the Israeli culture ministry's formal investigation leads to citizenship revocation proceedings against Abraham and Szor, and whether the far-right fundraising to 'chase' Abraham produces security incidents. Watch for further promotion or retraction of the counter-film's 42m view claim and any response from platforms hosting it. The original NAZA will be available free on the Guardian's website from late November, likely intensifying the controversy; note any separate statements from the military or diplomatic channels following the IDF chief's threat to use 'every tool'.