These documentarians got a standing ovation in Venice, but their fellow Israelis are furious

These documentarians got a standing ovation in Venice, but their fellow Israelis are furious

IDF exploring legal action against co-directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor over NAZA

On the streets of Jerusalem, there's no debating whether the directors of the documentary film NAZA, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, are truth-tellers or traitors.

They should be "in jail for betraying the country, betraying the army, betraying Jewish [people] all over the world," said Revital Hershko.

Hershko, like many in Israel, has been watching media coverage about the film, which got a special jury prize and a 25-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last week.

Over roughly an hour and a half, NAZA details Israeli war tactics used in Gaza, including AI systems that, by design, target wanted individuals in civilian spaces, such as apartment buildings, leading to the deaths of average Palestinians.

Abraham and Szor are Israeli, prompting many inside Israel to label them as lying traitors even before they had seen the film.

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"I think they make a very bad damage to our country," said Dalia Shemtov, a resident of Netanya who was out with friends in Jerusalem when she overheard CBC News asking locals about the film and what they've heard.

"It's not true what they said. They lie. All the soldiers, they didn't do anything."

While many of the people CBC spoke with are furious about the film, no one had seen it, since it's still only on the festival circuit.

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It's grabbing headlines because of the people featured — not Palestinians talking about the tens of thousands of people killed in Gaza after nearly three years of Israel's war with Hamas, but because of 24 Israeli military and intelligence personnel.

They describe, albeit anonymously, how attacks are approved, and their statements counter official lines coming from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that it goes to great lengths to reduce the number of civilian casualties.

The IDF has rejected the film's allegations, saying because only anonymous sources are used there is no way to verify if they have had any direct knowledge of Israeli military operations.

It has also labelled one claim from the trailer as "completely false" — in which a man says he was aware of approval for an airstrike to kill 500 people. Although he does say he does not know exactly how many died because there was no official count.

Lt.-Gen Eyal Zamir, the IDF's chief of general staff, on Monday instructed military lawyers to explore legal options against the filmmakers.

The film was produced by the British newspaper the Guardian, which in a statement said it "will robustly defend" NAZA and its team "from any attacks or attempts at censorship."

Abraham says he and Szor felt a responsibility as Israelis to use their position and abilities to bring insider testimony to light.

"There is a direct correlation between the silence or between the denial of the crimes and their ability to persist,” he said at a news event in Venice.

Fellow Israeli filmmaker Uri Rosenwaks has created an online petition in support of the film, calling on those "still fighting for freedom of expression" to sign.

But the criticisms keep coming. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video released by his Likud Party, called the film "shocking" and said it's "intolerable" that Israel must "fight antisemitic incitement" both globally and within.

And a man who was held captive in Gaza for 505 days said on Instagram: "I'm angry on a level I can't describe."

Eliya Cohen was among the 251 people kidnapped in the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants crossed into Israel — killing 1,200 Israelis and foreign workers and igniting Israel's war on Hamas, which has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to officials there.

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In his video, translated for CBC News, Cohen says he wants to see pictures of Abraham and Szor posted outside and "across every possible media platform, so that when they walk down the street … they should feel ashamed."

North American audiences will get to reach their own conclusions when NAZA plays at the New York Film Festival, which begins Sept. 25.

Crystal Goomansingh is a correspondent based in London, U.K.