Netanyahu Threatens ‘NAZA’ Directors After Record Venice Film Festival Ovation

At the Venice Film Festival, the controversial documentary NAZA earned a 24.5-minute standing ovation. Directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the film examines military intelligence systems regarding civilian casualties in Gaza, sparking political fallout and threats of citizenship revocation in Israel.

While global cinephiles in Italy were brought to tears by the late-addition competition entry, lawmakers back home reacted with fury, setting up a clash between political power and festival circuits.

The Bottom Line

• Ovation: NAZA secured a 24.5-minute standing ovation at Venice, besting the 22 minutes for The Voice of Hind Rajab.
• Political Backlash: Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to strip citizenship from directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor over the project.
• High-Profile Support: Oscar-winning filmmakers Jonathan Glazer and James Wilson backed the production, lending industry weight to its secretive rooftop-filming origins in Tel Aviv.

Inside the Venice Premiere and the Applause

When the house lights came up at the Venice Film Festival on a Thursday evening, the atmosphere inside the auditorium shifted from tense anticipation to emotional release. NAZA walked away with a 24.5-minute standing ovation. That figure clears the 22 minutes earned last year by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s Gaza-set feature The Voice of Hind Rajab.

The directing duo, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, looked visibly somber as the applause rolled on. Both grew teary-eyed while members of the audience held up Palestinian flags. Jonathan Glazer, the Oscar-winning director of The Zone of Interest and an executive producer on NAZA, stood close by, embracing the directors and encouraging the audience’s prolonged response. But this cinematic triumph on the Lido stood in contrast to the political firestorm erupting simultaneously in the Middle East.

Unpacking the Production and the Military Intelligence Interviews

The film itself represents a logistical and journalistic feat achieved under intense secrecy. Shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv over a three-year span, NAZA relies on revelatory interviews with 24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers. According to the official synopsis, the documentary details the systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The title stems from the acronym used by Israeli intelligence to denote collateral damage—specifically, the number of civilian casualties expected from a given airstrike. For Abraham and Szor, utilizing their positions and access within Israeli society was a deliberate choice. As Abraham noted ahead of the premiere, the team wanted to examine the military system through the accounts of those who served within it, aligning their findings with what international human rights organizations are saying is a genocide.

Festival Reception and Production Metrics for NAZA

Metric / Detail	Documentary Data
Festival Premiere	Venice Film Festival (Late addition in competition)
Standing Ovation Duration	24.5 minutes
Production Timeline	3 years (Shot in secrecy in Tel Aviv)
Key Interview Subjects	24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers
Key Producers	James Wilson (JW Films), The Guardian, Jonathan Glazer (EP)

Political Retaliation and the Threat to Citizenship

The triumph in Italy was met with governmental condemnation. Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up threats against the directors, seeking to strip Abraham and Szor of their citizenship. Israeli ministers joined the chorus, threatening to revoke the filmmakers’ citizenship over the documentary.

Photo: variety.com

The involvement of British outlets like The Guardian and producer James Wilson further broadens the geopolitical footprint of the project.

The Broader Cultural and Industry Impact

Coming on the heels of previous entries like No Other Land—the 2025 best documentary Oscar winner co-directed by Abraham alongside Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal—this new feature cements the directors’ status as lightning rods for international discourse.

As Venice concludes its run, the conversations sparked by the film’s reception and the ensuing political threats will shadow its distribution path.