Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar demanded steps on September 13, 2026, to revoke the citizenship of filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor following their documentary NAZA winning a special prize at the Venice Film Festival, alleging betrayal of the state over the film’s exposure of military intelligence operations in Gaza.
Venice Film Festival Premiere and the Controversy Surrounding NAZA
The 80-minute documentary NAZA premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a 25-minute standing ovation, reportedly setting a festival record. Produced by The Guardian, the film examines the intelligence systems behind military operations in Gaza during the war triggered by the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. The title refers to an acronym reportedly used by Israeli intelligence to refer to the estimated number of civilians expected to be killed in an airstrike on Gaza.
Minister Miki Zohar Seeks Citizenship Revocation Under Israeli Law
Following the film’s success and its reception of the Special Jury Prize, Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar announced via social media on September 13, 2026, that he had contacted the Director General of the Population Authority and the Director General of the Ministry of Interior to examine the denial of Israeli citizenship to the documentarians. Zohar called the film’s victory shocking and accused the creators of a betrayal of the state.
In a post on X, Miki Zohar said he had asked the authorities to investigate how the materials were obtained, who is behind them, and whether in the process of obtaining or publishing them, actions were taken that amount to aiding the enemy during wartime.
Zohar wrote on X: I will act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these despicable creators for treason against the state.
He also accused the filmmakers of being willing to harm their homeland
in order to receive applause from antisemites around the world, stating: The self-loathing that burns in the creators, who are willing to harm their homeland just to get applause from anti-semites around the world, is inconceivable.
Under national legislation, stripping a citizen of their nationality requires the country’s interior minister to submit a request for citizenship revocation, which then has to be approved by the justice minister before being validated by judges. While Israeli law allows citizenship revocation due to a breach of allegiance to the State of Israel
— a measure that was expanded in 2023 to cover people convicted of “terrorism” and allows the Supreme Court to uphold the state’s authority to strip individuals of nationality for failing to demonstrate loyalty including through acts of espionage or treason — the measure has rarely been applied.
Reactions Across Israeli Politics and the Film Industry
The documentary features interviews with individuals who claim approval was given to kill 500 people for one human target
, an allegation the IDF said was completely false
. Zohar also stated in a letter addressed to Israel’s Interior Ministry: The claims presented in the film are false and distorted, and I categorically reject the attempt to portray IDF soldiers and the State of Israel as perpetrators of intentional crimes.
There has been no immediate response from Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. The pair previously won an Oscar for their previous documentary, 2024’s No Other Land (co-directed with Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal), which spotlighted Palestinian resistance in the occupied West Bank. At the Venice film festival, where NAZA competed for the Golden Lion award and won the Special Jury Prize, Abraham said of their previous work: No Other Land documented horrible crimes. But at the same time it gave people … I don’t want to say hope, but some light to latch on to. It’s not a coincidence that this film is all in the dark. We are in a very dark place right now.
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