The Israeli government is actively promoting an online film project that imitates the style of NAZA, an award-winning documentary detailing Israel’s mass killings of civilians in Gaza. This initiative aims to counter the findings of the original film, which is directed by Oscar-winning filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and produced by the Guardian. The documentary is currently screening in cinemas across more than 50 countries.
Government Response
In response to the original film, the Israeli government has condemned it and announced plans to revoke the citizenship of Abraham and Szor, accusing them of treason. Recently, Israeli embassies have been sharing a link to a hastily produced online film titled NAZA: The Real Story. This film mimics elements of the original documentary, including anonymized interviews filmed on rooftops in Tel Aviv, and is hosted on the website nazadocumentary.com.
Ariel Averbuch, an Israeli attorney and army reservist involved in the new documentary, described the project as an “offensive move” aimed at diverting attention from allegations regarding the Israeli military’s actions against civilians, instead promoting the narrative that it is the “most moral army in the world.” Another filmmaker associated with the project is Roi Danino, a candidate for the right-wing Israel First party.
Timeline of Events
- The website for NAZA: The Real Story was registered on September 16, just six days after NAZA premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won the special jury prize.
- Initially, the website misrepresented itself as a promotional page for NAZA, incorrectly naming Abraham and Szor as directors and listing film festivals where the documentary was to be screened.
- The original synopsis was altered to remove references to Palestinian civilian deaths, a change that was later reverted after the video for NAZA: The Real Story was added.
The site now claims that the short film has been viewed over 42 million times, despite the official YouTube page indicating only 30,000 views. A technical analysis suggests that the viewer counter may have been artificially inflated by requests from bots or humans rather than actual views. When questioned about the source of the 42 million claim, Averbuch stated he was unaware and referred inquiries to his tech team.
