Israel’s culture minister has called for Oscar-winning filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor to have their Israeli citizenship revoked over their documentary NAZA, which examines Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Israeli culture minister Miki Zohar accused the directors of “treason against the state” after the documentary received a special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival.
The 80-minute film features interviews with 24 Israeli military and intelligence whistleblowers who described the use of AI-powered targeting systems in Israeli strikes on Gaza.
One source interviewed in the documentary claimed approval had been given to kill 500 civilians in an attempt to kill one Hamas member. The film takes its name from an acronym reportedly used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the expected number of civilian deaths in an airstrike.
NAZA received a special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday after its premiere drew a 25-minute standing ovation, which organisers described as a festival record.
Zohar accused the directors of being willing to “harm their homeland in order to receive applause from antisemites around the world.”
“I will act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these despicable creators for treason against the state,” Zohar wrote on X.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also criticised the filmmakers.
“You are a disgrace and an embarrassment to the entire people of Israel. Go away!” he wrote on X.
“I am certain that your friends, that is to say our enemies Hamas in Gaza, will welcome you with open arms.”
Israel allows citizenship to be revoked under certain circumstances, although authorities rarely use the measure. The Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the state could strip people of their nationality if they failed to demonstrate “loyalty” including through acts of espionage or treason.
A 2023 amendment also extended the law to people convicted of “terrorism”. Under the process, the interior minister must submit a request to revoke citizenship, which requires approval from the justice minister and validation by a judge.
Abraham and Szor previously won the 2025 Oscar for No Other Land, a documentary about Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
Abraham’s family home was targeted by a rightwing mob after the 2024 premiere of No Other Land. Speaking about the risks involved in making NAZA, he said that the filmmakers operated within a system that gave them privileges as Jewish Israelis.
“We’re taking risks in a system that privileges us, that has Jewish-Israeli supremacy as its founding characteristic,” he told the international media outlet.
“For so many Palestinians, it’s not a rightwing mob that’s coming to their home: it’s US-funded bulldozers and weapons.”
“Imagine if a Palestinian journalist in Gaza tried to do what we did and called up senior Israeli officials. There is no comparison. They would most likely be murdered.”
The Israeli military rejected the documentary’s allegations, saying it “categorically rejects” the claims made in the film. It also questioned the use of anonymous testimonies, saying the identities of the whistleblowers “cannot be verified”.
The documentary focuses on Israel’s genocide in Gaza following Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,221 people and saw 251 people taken hostage, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally based on official Israeli figures.
The Gaza health ministry has reported more than 73,000 deaths since the start of the Israeli bombardment, with civilians making up the majority of those killed.
