Israeli minister calls to strip Gaza film directors of citizenship
Israeli Directors Face Citizenship Threat After Gaza Documentary Wins Venice Prize
Bharatmorningnews.com – Israel’s culture minister has called for two acclaimed filmmakers to lose their citizenship after they released a documentary centred on testimony from Israeli military and intelligence whistleblowers about the Gaza war.
Miki Zohar made the demand on Sunday, targeting Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the Israeli directors behind NAZA. The 80-minute film received a special jury prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival and examines allegations surrounding AI-assisted targeting systems used during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
Abraham and Szor interviewed 24 former members of Israel’s military or intelligence services. In the documentary, the anonymous participants describe systems they say were involved in selecting or supporting targets in Gaza. The film addresses a military campaign that has caused extensive civilian casualties and deepened debate over accountability, wartime conduct and the limits of public criticism in Israel.
Minister alleges treason
Zohar accused the directors of betraying the country and said they were prepared to damage Israel’s standing internationally in pursuit of approval from hostile audiences.
“I will act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these despicable creators for treason against the state,”
he wrote on X. In an earlier part of his post, Zohar said the filmmakers were ready to “harm their homeland in order to receive applause from antisemites around the world”.
His remarks were echoed by other members of the Israeli government. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right figure, sharply criticised Abraham and Szor on the same platform. The pair previously won an Oscar in 2025 for No Other Land, a film focused on violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
“You are a disgrace and an embarrassment to the entire people of Israel. Go away!”
Ben-Gvir wrote. He then suggested that Hamas would welcome the directors in Gaza.
How citizenship revocation works
Israeli law permits the revocation of citizenship in limited cases, though the measure is used infrequently. A 2022 Supreme Court decision upheld the state’s authority to remove nationality where an individual has failed to demonstrate loyalty, including through espionage or treason.
The process is not triggered by a minister’s public statement alone. The interior minister must bring a request for revocation, the justice minister must give approval, and a court must validate the move. That legal sequence means Zohar’s demand represents a political call for action rather than an immediate change to the directors’ status.
The dispute also highlights the significance of citizenship cases in a country where questions of security, national identity and freedom of expression are often closely intertwined. The directors’ work has drawn praise abroad, while provoking strong condemnation from officials who view its allegations as harmful to Israel during an ongoing conflict.
Claims raised in the film
Abraham said the people interviewed for NAZA described a pattern of violence they believed was built into the way the campaign was conducted.
“The Israeli intelligence officers we spoke with talked to us about how this mass killing is systemic: not by accident, but by design, actions of murder and policies that are based on the total dehumanisation of Palestinians.”
The Israeli military challenged the documentary’s reliance on unnamed sources. It said on Friday that the whistleblowers’ identities could not be verified, placing the film at the centre of a dispute over both its evidence and its conclusions.
Anonymous testimony can allow people with sensitive professional backgrounds to speak without exposing themselves publicly. At the same time, it makes independent scrutiny more difficult, particularly when allegations concern intelligence operations, military systems and decisions made during combat.
War toll and wider context
The Gaza war followed Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,221 people in Israel. The figure is drawn from official Israeli data compiled by AFP.
Israel then launched its military campaign in Gaza. More than 73,000 people have been killed in the territory, figures released by Gaza’s health ministry show. The ministry operates under Hamas authority, while the United Nations considers its casualty figures reliable.
Those losses form the backdrop to the arguments raised by NAZA. The documentary does not merely revisit the human cost of the conflict; it focuses on the mechanisms and decisions that whistleblowers say shaped the targeting process. Its Venice recognition has given those claims a wider international audience, while also intensifying the backlash at home.
The citizenship threat now adds a legal and political dimension to the reaction. Whether any formal request is made will depend on the required ministers and the courts. For now, the case has become a prominent test of how Israel responds when artists use their work to challenge the conduct of state institutions during war.
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