During his acceptance speech at the 83rd Venice Film Festival last week, Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham challenged audiences — particularly Israelis and Europeans — to watch his documentary NAZA and confront the reality of the AI military systems used in the genocidal war on Gaza. Abraham and co-director Rachel Szor received the Special Jury Prize for the film, which debuted to a record-breaking 25-minute standing ovation.
COMMENTARY: Andrey X Khrzhanovskiy answers some emerging criticisms.
I watched NAZA. (Unlike 99 percent of people expressing their very strong opinions).
So here are my takes, which will make a lot of you very angry.
1. “Is the film antisemitic blood libel against the IDF?”
No, it is literally a series of confessions by IDF war criminals themselves, so that claim is laughable.
2. “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.
3. “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 award — it may be absolutely eye opening.
Democracy Now! features Yuval’s speech. Video: Democracy Now!
4. “Is the film good for the justice movement?”
It’s very good for the Palestine justice 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 so-called “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.
5. “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 you all didn’t know about it is all the more evidence for why this film was needed to be made.
6. “Is the film beyond reproach?”
Every piece of art, journalism or activism must be subject to criticism. And from the activist standpoint there is only one metric that’s important — its material impact. Not the identity of the artists, not the form, and not even the content. Only the material impact.
7. “The film protects war criminals, instead of delivering them to international courts.”
Providing a anonymity to whistleblowers is an essential part of investigative journalism. I also have sources in the IDF and the settler movement that I keep anonymous. Getting 24 people charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) — and likely never prosecuted — is much less useful than getting their testimonies heard by the entire world.
8. “The film didn’t show anything new, all of this has been reported by Palestinian journalists.”
This is largely true, as stated by Yuval himself. Nonetheless, confessions of the perpetrators are adding to the body of evidence of the Gaza genocide, and confessions always hold more weight than accusations. For many, this may be THE tipping point, unfortunately.
9. “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.
10. “Yuval Abraham is too Zionist/too anti-Zionist.”
Yuval’s politics is beside the point. You can disagree with someone and still find their work valuable.
A comprehensive pressure campaign at all levels is very important for the Palestine cause.
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 Pacific Media Watch.
Pacific Media Watch | Radio Free (2026-09-20T06:57:21+00:00) The controversial documentary NAZA: 10 reasons to defend this whistleblower war on Gaza film. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2026/09/20/the-controversial-documentary-naza-10-reasons-to-defend-this-whistleblower-war-on-gaza-film-2/
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