‘NAZA’ Filmmakers Announce Gaza Documentary Will Be Available for Free Online Viewing After Theatrical Release

The Israeli directors of the documentary “NAZA,” Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, announced that the film would be available for free online streaming in November, after a global theatrical release in over 50 countries.

The Guardian, which produced the film, said it will stream on its website “for free, as part of the news organisation’s commitment to the dissemination of independent journalism.”

The Guardian also said that “a number of distributors and cinemas in Israel have been offered the film, and the Guardian is exploring ways by which NAZA can be seen in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Director Yuval Abraham, announcing the move on X in Hebrew, wrote that the filmmakers had “approached cinemas in Israel and offered them the film free of charge, in the hope that it will be screened in Israel now, alongside its theatrical release around the world. Screening the film would be a courageous decision in the face of the intense efforts to suppress it. I know there is enormous demand to see the film, and I hope that, in this way, everyone will soon be able to watch it – either in cinemas or online in a few weeks.”

NAZA is a Hebrew acronym for collateral damage, meaning the ratio of non-combatant casualties deemed acceptable in a strike on a single target. In the unit’s terminology, “NAZA 15” permits 15 civilian deaths for one target, “NAZA 20,” 20. The calculation makes no distinctions between civilians: men, women and children are tallied together.

The film and subsequent coverage garnered significant backlash from Israel’s far-right and the Israeli government. Last week, for two nights in a row, dozens of right-wing agitators gathered outside the home of the parents of “NAZA” co-director Rachel Szor, calling to “expel the traitors.”

In his post on X, Abraham rejected what he described as false claims made about the filmmakers and the documentary over the previous week. He said the film was based on a three-year journalistic investigation and that its findings had been verified and cross-checked.

“We made the film to spark a public discussion about the government’s actions in Gaza, the killing of more than 73,000 people, most of them civilians, and the normalization of a war of annihilation and the idea that ‘there are no uninvolved civilians,'” he wrote.

Abraham also said that acknowledging what has happened in Gaza “does not diminish for a moment” the October 7 attack, for which he said Hamas was responsible and which said has “no justification.” He argued that ignoring events in Gaza only perpetuates the conditions that led to the attack.

“Journalism is not treason. Criticism is not treason,” he wrote. “It is the duty of every citizen whose government commits crimes to know about them, and of every soldier who witnessed them to speak about them.”

Abraham called on soldiers who had witnessed the events depicted in the film to testify about what they had seen, including the killing of unarmed people who crossed an imaginary line, the approval of hundreds of “NAZA” strikes, attacks on family homes, and killings and shootings at food distribution sites.

In a personal note, Abraham said he had been writing in Hebrew for the Israeli-Palestinian investigative site Local Call about the military’s fire policy in Gaza for three years, but that his investigations had largely been ignored in Israel. “Now, for the first time, something is cracking in that wall of indifference – and that is a positive thing,” he wrote.

He acknowledged the personal cost of the controversy, saying it had been a difficult week but that he had also received substantial support. “The threats will not help,” he wrote. “They will not deter us. Rachel and I will return to Israel and continue to fight for the future of this place together with many partners.”

The film had caused an uproar in Israel since its premiere at the Venice festival earlier this month, prompting calls by Culture Minister Miki Zohar to investigate the directors’ information sources. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also threatened last week to “revoke the citizenship of those who defame the Israeli military.”

The IDF told the Shin Bet that no criminal investigation had been opened and that no decision had been made on whether to launch one. Army officials have not yet seen the film, the IDF said, and do not know the identities of the soldiers interviewed or the contents of their statements. They therefore cannot yet determine what action, if any, should be taken