Miki Zohar Threatens To Revoke Yuval Abraham And Rachel Szor’s Citizenship After NAZA Venice Win

Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar said he would act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of documentary directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor after their film NAZA won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival.

“Miki Zohar labels Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor as "vile creators"”

20Minutos

Zohar accused the filmmakers of “treason against the country” and said he would “act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these vile creators for treason against the country,” linking the threat to the documentary’s portrayal of Israel’s use of artificial intelligence to bomb Gaza.

20Minutos

The film’s title, as described in the coverage, refers to a term used by Israeli commanders and intelligence services for “collateral victims” of bombings after the October 7, 2023 attacks against Israel carried out by Hamas and other Palestinian Islamist groups.

The Israeli Army (IDF) rejected the documentary’s conclusions in a statement, saying its decisions to bomb Gaza are always taken by human personnel and not by artificial intelligence (AI).

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir joined the attack on X, calling Abraham and Szor “a shame and a dishonor to the entire people of Israel” and saying, “Disappear. I am sure that their friends, our Hamas enemies in Gaza, will welcome them with open arms.”

In response to the accusations, documentary co-director Yuval Abraham defended the film’s sources and said, “The Israeli intelligence officers we spoke with explained that this mass killing is systemic: not by accident, but by design,” while the Israel Defense Forces maintained that target selection is carried out by human personnel and not automated systems.

24horas

The dispute also played out through the legal and procedural framing of citizenship revocation, with the 24horas account stating that “The legal procedure to deprive a Israeli citizen of nationality requires a specific administrative process.”

While Zohar and Ben-Gvir cast the film as treason, the BBC described the documentary’s Venice win as a trigger for immediate government action and quoted Labour Minister Tahmina Akhter’s pledge to hold owners accountable in a different context, underscoring how the same kind of official response can be framed differently across the coverage.

Beyond the personal threats to Abraham and Szor, the coverage describes a broader institutional response inside Israel, including calls for investigations into soldiers who participated and for disclosure of their identities, alongside legal action discussions.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the film comes as part of a global wave of incitement against Jews”

Al-Jazira Net

Al-Jazeera reports that Israel mobilized political, military, and diplomatic institutions to confront the film’s repercussions, starting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior, and Culture, and it cites a petition within Unit 8200 with hundreds of reserve soldiers calling for verification of whether any participants in the film belong to the unit.

The same account says Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi instructed the military attorney general to study possible legal actions against the film and its participants and to examine leaks of classified materials and documents believed used in its production.

In parallel, the film’s international reception is described as sustained, with Al-Talfazij Al-Arabi saying the documentary received a long standing ovation of about 25 minutes and that it set a festival record on Friday by being met with sustained standing ovation and 25 minutes of applause after its world premiere on the island of Lido.