Standfirst: Israel’s culture minister has said he will seek to revoke the citizenship of Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor after their Gaza documentary NAZA won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. The threat has prompted condemnation and renewed debate over artistic freedom, political criticism and the legal limits of citizenship revocation.
Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar announced on Sunday that he would act against the two Israeli filmmakers, accusing them of betraying the state after NAZA received a major award at Venice. The documentary examines Israel’s military operations in Gaza through interviews with Israeli military intelligence personnel, soldiers and whistleblowers.
The statement followed the film’s Special Jury Prize win at the 2026 Venice Film Festival. The directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, previously co-directed No Other Land, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary after documenting settler violence and Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.
What happened after the Venice award?
Zohar described NAZA as an offensive film and linked its criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza to antisemitism. He said he would “act immediately to revoke” the directors’ Israeli citizenship, while accusing them of harming their country for international approval.
The statement, published through social media, did not set out a completed government decision, court order or formal legal process. It therefore represents a political threat or proposed action rather than confirmation that either director has lost citizenship.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also attacked the filmmakers publicly, calling them a disgrace and suggesting that Hamas would welcome them. The comments intensified concerns about the treatment of artists who criticise government policy during wartime.
NAZA and its Gaza investigation
The 80-minute documentary is described as an investigation into the systems used to identify targets and assess expected civilian casualties during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Its title refers to a military acronym translated as “collateral damage”.
The film was reportedly made in secret, with filming taking place at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv. It includes testimony from 24 Israeli military intelligence officers, soldiers and whistleblowers. The filmmakers draw on reporting published by the Israeli-Palestinian magazine +972 Magazine, the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call and The Guardian.
At its Venice premiere, NAZA received a reported 25-minute standing ovation, the longest recorded for a film at the festival. Its award has made the documentary one of the most prominent new works dealing with the Gaza war and its consequences.
Reactions in Israel
The proposed citizenship action has been criticised by supporters of the directors and by commentators who view the threat as an attack on freedom of expression.
Yousef Jabareen, a former lawmaker and chair of the left-wing Hadash party, congratulated Abraham and Szor and said the film exposed what he described as crimes and the reality facing Palestinians in Gaza.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz also defended the film’s purpose in an editorial, arguing that its screening abroad sought to make Israeli audiences confront the conduct of the war.
These reactions contrast sharply with the statements from Zohar and Ben-Gvir. The dispute reflects a wider division inside Israel over the war, criticism of military policy and the role of artists in presenting contested accounts to international audiences.
Could their citizenship be revoked immediately?
Zohar’s announcement does not itself revoke citizenship. Any such action would need to follow Israel’s constitutional, administrative and legal procedures, and the source material does not confirm that a formal process has begun or that a competent authority has issued a decision.
That distinction is important. A ministerial statement, political declaration or social-media post is not the same as a legally effective order. The directors remain described as Israeli citizens, and no final citizenship decision has been reported in the supplied information.
The threat nevertheless carries serious implications. Citizenship is a fundamental legal status, while attempts to remove it because of artistic work or political criticism would raise questions about due process, freedom of expression and the protection of dissent.
What happens next for the film?
NAZA is scheduled to screen at Spain’s San Sebastián International Film Festival on 23 September and at the New York Film Festival on 26 September. No general theatrical release date has been announced.
French distributor MK2 Films holds the film’s worldwide sales rights. Its future release and festival screenings are likely to keep attention focused on the documentary, its allegations and the response from Israeli officials.
The film arrives amid continuing international scrutiny of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The supplied report cites figures from Gaza’s health ministry and references findings and descriptions from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and a United Nations independent commission. Those allegations and findings remain part of a wider, heavily contested legal and political debate.
Why the controversy matters
The dispute is significant beyond the film industry because it concerns whether a government official can seek punitive action against citizens whose work criticises state policy. It also highlights the risks faced by journalists, filmmakers and whistleblowers documenting armed conflict.
- For artistic freedom: the case raises concerns about whether political criticism can be treated as disloyalty.
- For Israeli public debate: NAZA challenges audiences to examine claims about military targeting and civilian harm.
- For international cinema: Venice has given the documentary a major platform before its wider festival run.
- For legal scrutiny: any citizenship action would require examination of the applicable Israeli law and procedural safeguards.
At present, the confirmed development is the minister’s threat, not a completed revocation. The directors’ next public appearances and the film’s scheduled screenings may provide further information about how the controversy develops.
Conclusion
The Venice award for NAZA has turned a documentary about Gaza into the centre of a political confrontation in Israel. While Miki Zohar has threatened citizenship action against Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, no completed revocation has been confirmed. The key issue now is whether the threat proceeds into a formal legal process—and how Israeli institutions, film audiences and international rights groups respond.
