COMMENTARY: By Andrey X Khrzhanovskiy
I watched NAZA.
(Unlike 99% of people expressing their very strong opinions on this website).
So here are my takes, which will make a lot of you very angry.
“Is the film antisemitic blood libel against the IDF?”
It’s literally a series of confessions by IDF war criminals themselves, so that claim is laughable.
“How can Yuval and Rachel betray their country?”
Our loyalty must be to justice and humanity, not to systems of power that privilege us. It is your duty to resist your country if your country is committing genocide.
“Is the film good?”
Yes. And the vast majority of you will learn something new about the mechanics of the Gaza genocide, even if you’ve been following it closely. And for the people who haven’t been following, who will watch it now because of the festival clout, it may be absolutely eye opening.
From Yuval’s speech in Venice after receiving the award.
“Is the film good for the movement?”
It’s very good for the movement that a film on the Gaza genocide is getting so much attention. It forces the mainstream to confront Israel’s crimes once again, which is especially important now when the attention is dying down because of the “ceasefire”. The activist scene is still very focused, but the mainstream attention is decreasing, and NAZA winning festivals around the world will do a great job returning the conversation to what matters.
“Why didn’t they release the evidence as articles instead of a film?”
They did, over the course of the past three years Yuval published some of the most valuable investigative journalism on the Gaza genocide in +972 Magazine. The fact that y’all didn’t know about it is all the more evidence for why this film needed to be made.
“Why not just upload it to the internet instead of going to festivals?”
Social media videos, written articles, feature films and many other formats cannot replace one another. They work for different audiences and achieve different goals. Festivals bring the film to an audience that wouldn’t watch it on the internet, and provides credibility to a very damning account of the genocide. A comprehensive pressure campaign at all levels is very important for our cause, not just watching and rewa
Andrey X Khrzhanovskiy is an independent journalist and human rights advocate working in the West Bank. Follow his on-the-ground reports about settler and IOF violence.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by David Robie.
David Robie | Radio Free (2026-09-20T04:59:27+00:00) Asia Pacific Report 2026-09-20 04:59:27. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2026/09/20/asia-pacific-report-2026-09-20-045927/
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