Zamir decries film as a ‘blood libel’ and ‘deliberate distortion of reality,’ after IDF spokesperson says military seeks to view entire documentary so it can address claims in full
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Monday instructed the military’s top legal official to examine legal action against the film “NAZA” and those involved in it, saying it defamed the military, and separately ordered an investigation into the leaking of classified material used in its production.
His comments came shortly after IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin issued a statement inviting the documentary’s filmmakers to allow military officials to view the film in full so that the IDF could respond in a “substantive manner.” So far, the military has only reacted to clips of the movie posted online, and has not yet seen the full documentary.
The 80-minute film by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor — whose title is a Hebrew acronym meaning collateral damage — claims to explore AI-powered strikes by Israel in the Gaza Strip it alleges have led to civilian deaths, including testimonies from 24 purported Israeli intelligence soldiers. The film won a special jury prize this week at the Venice Film Festival, where it debuted.
Testimony in the film alleges “mass killing on an industrial scale” in Gaza, one of the officers said in a series of anonymous interviews, describing an AI-assisted system that identified targets using data gathered from thousands of hacked mobile phones. Israel rejects the premise of the film, and says it has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties and that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields in densely populated areas — a claim Hamas denies.
On Friday — a day after the film’s premiere at the festival and a day before it won the prize — the IDF issued a statement saying that it “categorically rejects” allegations made in the documentary and criticizing the use of anonymous testimonies.
The IDF also said decisions on the selection and approval of strikes were made “by human personnel only… and not by artificial intelligence.”
“According to the reports that have emerged so far, this is not a film criticizing the IDF and is not an attempt to ascertain the truth. It is based on blood libels, deliberate distortion of reality, and false and serious accusations against IDF soldiers and commanders,” Zamir said in a statement after holding a meeting Monday with senior military officials about the documentary.
He said that the film “adopts narratives of Israel’s haters, defames our soldiers and commanders, and seeks to portray the IDF as deliberately acting unlawfully.”
“This is a dangerous attempt to strip us of the legitimacy to defend ourselves against the worst of our enemies, and in doing so to pose a real danger to IDF soldiers and commanders,” Zamir continued. “We will not allow IDF soldiers to be turned into targets through lies and blood libels. Faced with such an attempt, we must act resolutely, using all the tools at our disposal, legal, command, and public diplomacy.”
Zamir on Monday ordered the establishment of a “multi-organizational and multidisciplinary team” headed by the Planning Directorate, to “formulate courses of action and tools for addressing false claims against the IDF and its soldiers, in cooperation with experts from Israel and around the world.”
He also instructed Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir to “examine and advance possible legal actions regarding the film and those involved in it… due to the dissemination of false claims against IDF soldiers, and their possible implications for their personal security and the security of the state.”
Zamir also instructed the military’s top brass to examine “information security aspects and possible individuals involved in the leaking of classified materials that were used in producing the film.”
Earlier Monday, Defrin also stridently rejected the allegations made in the film and said the IDF was seeking to view the documentary in its entirety.
“The film ‘NAZA’ has not yet been released in full, but from what can be seen in the trailer, it presents a series of serious and false claims regarding the IDF and its personnel. The claims presented in the trailer are untrue, and some are even presented in a distorted, falsified manner, disconnected from the reality on the ground,” said Defrin in a Hebrew-language post on X.
“It is important to me to emphasize that the IDF is a values-based military that operates in accordance with international law and according to binding professional values and standards. This is how we have operated throughout the past three years, and this is how we will continue to operate, even under the most complex combat conditions,” he continued.
Defrin said that “to enable a substantive, professional and fact-based discussion, rather than settling for false portrayals, I invite the filmmakers to allow IDF representatives to view the full film, so that we can address each of the claims raised in it in a substantive manner.”
“The public discussion surrounding the film should be conducted on the basis of facts — not on the basis of false portrayals and slanderous lies,” he added.
Later Monday, issuing a missive to troops, Zamir also noted that he has “not watched the film, I do not know whom they interviewed in it or who or what is behind it. The claims and events were not presented to the IDF, and therefore it is difficult to respond to the matter seriously and professionally.”
The IDF chief said that the military “will continue to accept any substantive criticism and examine ourselves,” but added that “false, manipulative and unfounded vilification is not legitimate criticism, even if it receives sanctimonious applause.”
Among the film’s allegations is one, featured in a promotional video of the documentary, that it planned a strike during the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in which 500 civilian deaths had been anticipated. The IDF has denied that claim as “completely false.”
“The IDF has never planned, approved, or carried out a strike in Gaza in which 500 civilians or anything near that number were anticipated to be killed. Nor was any credible claim raised throughout the war suggesting that an IDF strike had caused anything near that number of fatalities,” the military said.
The IDF said that Abraham and Szor “couldn’t possibly verify this claim, there is no real supporting evidence, and yet they published it anyway.”
The military said Friday that “the excerpts cited include claims regarding national and military strategy that are clearly beyond the knowledge of junior-level soldiers,” and that there are “references to situations in which IDF Intelligence Directorate soldiers, who were allegedly interviewed for the film, by definition would not have been involved.”
The film has received considerable backlash from a range of Israeli politicians, including Culture Minister Miki Zohar, who has threatened to revoke the citizenship of filmmakers Abraham and Szor “for treason against the state.”
As reported by The Times of Israel