An unexpected incident occurred during the premiere of the propaganda documentary NAZA at a cinema in the Netherlands, when a woman who survived the 7 October 2023 attack interrupted the screening. She was Sabine Taas, who lost her husband and son that day.

As seen in videos circulating on social media, the woman took the microphone and verbally confronted the film’s Israeli directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Shore. “Look me in the eyes. You talk about collateral damage? My husband and son were murdered by Hamas. Where is that shown in your film?” she shouted at Abraham, Shore and all the audience members.

Some people in the auditorium, however, became enraged and responded: “We don’t care, you should be ashamed, we don’t want to hear anything!”

Sabine was subsequently forced to leave the auditorium.

24.5-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival

A few days ago, at the Venice Film Festival, the audience gave a 24.5 minutes standing ovation. It was the longest standing ovation ever recorded in Venice, surpassing the 22 minutes received last year by The Voice of Hind Rajab. Abraham and Shore appeared visibly moved, while several audience members shed tears and some were holding Palestinian flags.

According to its official synopsis, NAZA seeks to present “in detail the mechanisms behind the systematic mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza by Israel”. The documentary was filmed in the utmost secrecy, at night, on rooftops in Tel Aviv, and features interviews with 24 alleged officers from Israeli military intelligence services and soldiers. In the 80-minute pro-Palestinian film, the interviewees allegedly describe how various technological systems, including Artificial Intelligence, enabled the Israeli military to identify alleged Hamas members and their families through their mobile phones and subsequently target their homes.

The title NAZA comes from an acronym used by Israeli intelligence services for so-called “collateral damage” and refers to the estimated number of civilians expected to be killed in an air strike.

Reactions

The Israeli military categorically rejected the allegations contained in the film, expressing doubts about the credibility of the anonymous interviewees. It also said that it makes significant efforts to protect civilians during attacks in Gaza.

In addition, regarding the documentary, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin had stated in a post on his X account:

“The film ‘NAZA’ has not yet been released in its entirety, but from what one can see in the trailer, it presents a series of serious and false claims regarding the IDF and its personnel. The claims presented in the trailer are not true, and some are even presented in a distorted and falsified manner, detached from the reality on the ground.”

“It is important for me to emphasise that the IDF is a military that is guided by values, operates in accordance with international law and with binding professional values and standards. This is how we have acted throughout the past three years and how we will continue to act, even under the most complex combat conditions,” he continued.

Defrin added that “in order to enable a substantive, professional and fact-based discussion, rather than limiting ourselves to false portrayals, I invite the filmmakers to allow IDF representatives to watch the entire film, so that we can respond substantively to each of the allegations made in it”.

“The public discussion surrounding the film must be conducted on the basis of facts, not on the basis of false portrayals and defamatory lies,” he said.