Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to pass a law to revoke the citizenship of anyone who defames Israeli soldiers - his latest threat against the Israeli directors of 'NAZA', a documentary about the deaths of civilians in Gaza.
Directed by Israeli journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, 'NAZA' alleges that mass civilian deaths were routinely built into Israeli targeting decisions in Gaza, something Netanyahu and the military reject.
The film, which won a major prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday (September 12), takes its title from an Israeli military term for expected "collateral casualties" and is built around anonymous interviews with intelligence officers and soldiers.
Netanyahu pledged to advance two bills that he said aimed at addressing the "immense damage" done to Israeli soldiers.
"We were all shocked by three incidents that caused enormous damage to the State of Israel and enormous harm to IDF (Israeli Defense Force) soldiers. The first was the statement by Yair Golan, who said that IDF soldiers kill babies as a hobby. The second was the action of the Military Advocate General, who released a fake video that portrayed IDF soldiers as rapists. And the third was the recent 'NAZA' film, which portrayed IDF officers and soldiers as war criminals. The time has come to deal with this,"
Netanyahu said.
In 2022, Israel's Supreme Court upheld a law that permits stripping citizenship from Israelis who carry out actions that constitute a breach of trust against the state.
Any new legislation would likely face similar court challenges.
The makers of 'NAZA' say they believe it's important that Israelis watch the documentary and grapple with the narrative it presents.
Gaza health authorities say more than 73,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's military campaign that has left much of Gaza in ruins.
The war was triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli tallies
