Israel’s culture minister calls for “revocation of citizenship” of winners of the Venice Film Festival award

Israel’s culture minister calls for “revocation of citizenship” of winners of the Venice Film Festival award

🔸Israel’s culture minister threatened, in response to the documentary film “Naza,” that he would take action to revoke the citizenship of two Israeli directors.

🔸The film won the special prize of the jury at the recent edition of the Venice Film Festival at the closing ceremony held in Italy on 21 Shahrivar.

🔸At the same time, the Israeli army held a high-level meeting at the level of its senior commanders regarding the film, the subject of which concerns an army operation in Gaza.

🔸The documentary “Naza” received a very strong reception from attendees at the Venice Film Festival, so that spectators clapped for Rachel Shorr and Yuval Abraham—the film’s directors—for 24 and a half minutes, to register a historic record of enthusiasm for filmmakers at a global festival. At the closing ceremony as well, the film won the special prize of the jury.

🔸In Israel, however, the news of the long and successful standing ovation and the film’s victory at the Venice Film Festival met with widespread anger.

🔸For most Israelis, who after the attack by the extremist Hamas group on their soil and despite suffering high casualties are still facing the consequences of the war in Gaza, and whose children have been killed or injured in this war, and whose many of their southern cities have been left empty of residents for long periods, the film’s subject is a cause of anger.

🔸Rachel Shorr and Yuval Abraham prepared their documentary based on statements from 24 members of the army.

🔸These people are presented as officers and soldiers associated with intelligence and technology units. Their faces are not shown; their voices are altered for their security; and they stand on the rooftop of a building in Tel Aviv and speak.

🔸They claim that AI-based targeting systems were used in the bombings of Gaza. According to them, these systems, by tracking smart phones, selected civilian targets and homes in Gaza for bombing.

🔸Among other allegations, these whistleblowers say that in a specific attack on Gaza, it was expected that about 500 civilians would be killed so that a member of the extremist Hamas group—who was the army’s target—would be eliminated.

🔸One of these sources claims that in order to kill that intended Hamas figure, in practice permission was issued for the deaths of 500 people with the code “Naza.”

🔸Read the full report on the Radio Farda website.