In the aftermath of a documentary that exposed the human cost of AI-assisted warfare in Gaza, the Israeli government and its allies chose not silence but imitation — crafting a counterfeit film designed to wear the original's face while telling a different story. NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and built on testimony from 24 Israeli military insiders, documents how civilian deaths were knowingly accepted as a condition of targeting Hamas operatives. The state's response — investigations, citizenship threats, death threats, and a fabricated rival film — raises a question as old
Israel launches copycat film to counter Gaza documentary NAZA
Over 73,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023; filmmakers face death threats and potential legal persecution by Israeli authorities.
Our country is doing so much to hide these systems.
Mark
So the Israeli government made a fake version of the documentary? That seems almost too obvious to work.
Mimi
Not a fake version exactly—more like a competing narrative dressed up to look similar. They called it NAZA: The Real Story, used the same rooftop interview style, even initially pretended it was the actual documentary on the website.
Luke
But the website initially falsely claimed to be promoting the real film, right? That's not just competition—that's impersonation. How long did that last before they corrected it?
Mimi
Only until they had their own video ready to upload. Once NAZA: The Real Story was finished, they updated the site to host both. But the damage was done—people had already been directed there thinking they were finding the real documentary.
Mark
What does the counter-film actually argue? What's its case?
Mimi
That Israel has the most moral army in the world, essentially. It reframes the killing of civilians as an unfortunate but necessary cost of targeting Hamas. The original NAZA documents how Israel used AI surveillance knowing civilians would die. The counter-film tries to make that sound justified.
Luke
And the view count on this counter-film—42 million—that's been questioned?
Mimi
Heavily. Technical analysis suggests those numbers came from automated requests, not actual viewers. The official YouTube page shows 30,000 views. When asked about the discrepancy, Averbuch said he didn't know.
Mark
Who is Averbuch?
Mimi
An Israeli attorney and army reservist. He also founded an organization that does what it calls "advocacy warfare"—they've distributed scripts to help influencers attack the filmmakers' previous work.
Luke
So this isn't a grassroots response. This is coordinated government strategy, with the embassies promoting it.
Mimi
Yes. The Israeli embassy to the US shared it on social media. The government awarded Averbuch a certificate of appreciation for his contribution to public diplomacy.
Mark
And what's happened to the actual filmmakers, Abraham and Szor?
Mimi
They've faced death threats, protests outside their homes, calls for the death penalty, and the government has launched an investigation calling for them to be stripped of citizenship and charged with treason. Far-right activists have announced plans to find and "chase" them.
Luke
That's a significant escalation from making a counter-film. The government is using state power to threaten them while also promoting the counter-narrative.
Mimi
Exactly. And it's not new for them—the Palestinian co-directors of Abraham and Szor's previous film have been detained and harassed by the military since winning an Oscar.
O Pulso
- A documentary exposing Israel's AI-driven targeting system — and its acceptance of mass civilian casualties — premiered at Venice to a standing ovation, immediately igniting a state-level crisis.
- Within days, Israeli embassies were circulating a copycat film that initially impersonated the real documentary, falsely listing its directors and erasing all mention of Palestinian deaths from its synopsis.
- The counter-film claimed an audience of 42 million viewers, but technical analysis pointed to automated inflation — its official YouTube page showed just 30,000 real views.
- Israeli authorities launched treason investigations, threatened to strip the filmmakers of citizenship, and the military's chief of staff vowed to deploy every tool available against the film's release.
- Outside the official response, demonstrators gathered at a filmmaker's family home calling for her execution, a mural placed both directors in a gun's crosshairs, and a far-right activist publicly fundraised to hunt down one of them.
- With over 73,000 Palestinians killed and a UN commission characterizing the campaign as genocide, NAZA is set for global theatrical release and free online distribution — its suppression, so far, only amplifying its reach.
In the aftermath of a documentary that exposed the human cost of AI-assisted warfare in Gaza, the Israeli government and its allies chose not silence but imitation — crafting a counterfeit film designed to wear the original's face while telling a different story. NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and built on testimony from 24 Israeli military insiders, documents how civilian deaths were knowingly accepted as a condition of targeting Hamas operatives. The state's response — investigations, citizenship threats, death threats, and a fabricated rival film — raises a question as old as power itself: when truth becomes dangerous, what does its suppression reveal about those who fear it?
When NAZA premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a standing ovation, it carried the weight of 24 testimonies from Israeli military insiders — a documentary record of how Israel deployed AI surveillance to identify Hamas operatives while knowingly accepting mass Palestinian civilian casualties. Directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and produced by the Guardian, the film was scheduled for release in more than 50 countries. The Israeli government's answer came swiftly and in an unexpected form: imitation.
Within days of the Venice screening, Israeli embassies began circulating links to a rival film called NAZA: The Real Story, hosted on a website registered just six days after the premiere. Created by an Israeli attorney and army reservist alongside a candidate for a far-right political party, the counter-film claimed Israel fields "the most moral army in the world" and reframed civilian deaths as an unavoidable byproduct of counterterrorism. More troublingly, the website initially presented itself as the official page for the real documentary — listing Abraham and Szor as directors, advertising festival screenings, and scrubbing any mention of Palestinian deaths from a distorted synopsis. The deception only became transparent after the rival video was uploaded alongside the original.
The counter-film's claimed viewership of 42 million strained credibility; technical analysis suggested the figure was generated by automated requests rather than real audiences, while its YouTube page registered just 30,000 views. When pressed on the discrepancy, the film's creator said he didn't know and deferred to his technical team. Israeli government officials nonetheless awarded the production team a certificate of appreciation for their contribution to public diplomacy.
The official response went further still. Israel's ministry of culture opened a formal investigation into NAZA and called for the filmmakers to be stripped of their citizenship on treason grounds. The IDF's chief of staff issued a 10-page rebuttal and pledged to use every tool available against the film. Beyond the institutions, the pressure turned personal and menacing: protesters gathered outside Szor's parents' home demanding capital punishment; a mural in Ashdod depicted both directors framed in a gun's crosshairs; a far-right activist announced on Instagram he was raising funds to "chase" Abraham.
The filmmakers are not without precedent for what follows. Their previous collaboration, No Other Land — which documented the destruction of a Palestinian village and won an Oscar — led to the harassment and military detention of its Palestinian co-directors. The organization behind the NAZA counter-film had previously distributed scripts coaching influencers to attack that earlier work.
More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. A United Nations commission has described the military campaign as genocide. At the London Film Festival, producer James Wilson acknowledged the filmmakers had expected friction but not "the level of aggression leading to these threats and the rabble-rousing aspect." NAZA will open in cinemas worldwide and be made freely available on the Guardian's website in late November — its story, and the reaction to it, now inseparable.
In the weeks after an Oscar-winning documentary premiered at Venice to a standing ovation, the Israeli government launched a countermeasure: a hastily assembled online film designed to look like the real thing, complete with rooftop interviews and a nearly identical title. The original film, called NAZA, was directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and produced by the Guardian. It documents how Israel deployed an AI-assisted surveillance system during the Gaza war to identify Hamas operatives while knowingly accepting that large numbers of Palestinian civilians would be killed in the process. The film draws on 24 interviews with Israeli military insiders and is scheduled for theatrical release in more than 50 countries.
Within days of NAZA's September premiere, Israeli embassies began circulating links to a rival production titled NAZA: The Real Story, hosted on a website registered just six days after the Venice screening. The copycat film was created by Ariel Averbuch, an Israeli attorney and army reservist, alongside Roi Danino, a candidate for the rightwing Israel First party. Averbuch described the project as an "offensive move" designed to redirect global attention away from the documentary's core allegations. The counter-film claims Israel maintains "the most moral army in the world" and attempts to reframe the killing of civilians as a necessary consequence of targeting terrorists.
The deception ran deeper than mere imitation. The website initially presented itself as the official promotional page for the real NAZA documentary, falsely listing Abraham and Szor as directors and advertising film festival screenings. The fake synopsis distorted the original film's description, removing any mention of Palestinian civilian deaths. Only after the rival video was uploaded did the website shift to openly hosting both films side by side. The counter-film's view count—displayed as exceeding 42 million—appeared inflated beyond credibility; technical analysis suggested the number was generated by automated requests rather than actual viewers, while the film's official YouTube page showed only 30,000 views. When questioned about the discrepancy, Averbuch claimed ignorance and deferred to his technical team.
The Israeli government's response to NAZA extended far beyond a competing film. Within a week of the Venice premiere, the ministry of culture announced a formal investigation into the documentary and called for Abraham and Szor to be stripped of their Israeli citizenship, accusing them of treason. The Israel Defense Forces' chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, declared the military would deploy "every tool at our disposal" against the film and issued a 10-page written response. Israeli government officials awarded Averbuch and his team a certificate of appreciation for their contribution to "public diplomacy," claiming the production had reached tens of millions of viewers.
The pressure on the filmmakers intensified beyond official channels. Demonstrators gathered outside Szor's parents' home demanding she face capital punishment. A mural appeared in the Israeli city of Ashdod depicting both directors through the crosshairs of a gun. Far-right activist Mordechai David posted a video to Instagram announcing he was fundraising to establish a team to "chase" Abraham, declaring "We'll find him." At a New York screening, Szor acknowledged the toll: "Our country is doing so much to hide these systems. It's not a world that is open even to the Israeli public."
The stakes for the filmmakers extend beyond the current moment. The two Palestinian co-directors of Abraham and Szor's previous film, No Other Land—which documented the destruction of the Palestinian village Masafer Yatta and won an Oscar in 2025—have been harassed and detained by the Israeli military since that film's release. Averbuch, notably, founded an organization that conducts what it calls "advocacy warfare," including distributing scripts to help influencers attack No Other Land and its creators.
The death toll that prompted NAZA's investigation remains staggering. More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. A United Nations commission has characterized the military campaign as genocide. The original documentary's 24 interviews with Israeli military insiders detail the surveillance apparatus and targeting protocols that enabled this scale of killing. James Wilson, one of NAZA's producers, told audiences at the London Film Festival that the filmmakers had anticipated "displeasure" but not "the level of aggression leading to these threats and the rabble-rousing aspect." He described the experience as "very difficult and stressful and horrible and scary" for Abraham and Szor, while noting the film has received overwhelming support internationally. NAZA will be released in cinemas globally and made available free on the Guardian's website beginning in late November.
Citações Notáveis
Our country is doing so much to hide these systems. It's not a world that is open even to the Israeli public.— Rachel Szor, co-director of NAZA, at New York premiere Q&A
To have made a documentary film and be threatened by the political elites of your home country with charges of treason and defamation—it's been very difficult and stressful and horrible and scary for them.— James Wilson, NAZA producer, at London Film Festival
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