Cloaked in anonymity, Israeli soldiers describe mass civilian killings in 'NAZA'
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soldiers → cloak → NAZA
Cloaked in anonymity, Israeli soldiers describe mass civilian killings in 'NAZA'
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soldiers → cloak → NAZA
For most of the shattering and damning new documentary NAZA, we are on a series of rooftops in Tel Aviv, watching the Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham conduct one-on-one interviews with Israeli soldiers and intelligence personnel.
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journalist → shatter → soldiers
The rooftop footage was filmed at night, mostly by Abraham's co-director, Rachel Szor, and their interview subjects — 24 of them in total — are all cloaked in darkness.
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subjects → film → darkness
We're told that their appearances and voices have been digitally altered to protect their anonymity.
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appearances → tell → anonymity
In precise detail, they speak about their role in launching the airstrikes that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza since the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when around 1,200 people were killed and 250 hostages were taken.
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hostages → speak → Oct.
Unsurprisingly, NAZA has already stirred considerable outrage — much of it, it should be noted, from people who haven't seen and maybe never will see it.
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who → stir → it
Abraham and Szor, both Israeli filmmakers, have been denounced as traitors in Israel, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself has threatened to revoke their citizenship.
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Netanyahu → denounce → citizenship
The anonymization of sources has been one of the more contested issues; Israel supporters have said it discredits the soldiers' testimony, while Palestine supporters have criticized the film for shielding self-confessed war criminals.
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supporters → contest → criminals
Without the promise of anonymity, of course, NAZA as a film wouldn't exist.
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NAZA → exist → film
But the reporting that it presents would exist.
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it → present → that
Much of it has already been published in outlets including +972 Magazine, an Israeli-Palestinian publication; Local Call, a Hebrew-language outlet; and The Guardian, which co-produced the film.
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which → publish → film
Abraham wrote many of those investigative pieces himself; he's also credited the many Palestinian journalists who brought these revelations to light.
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who → write → light
Some of the interview subjects speak about how they were motivated to help the Israeli military annihilate Hamas after Oct. 7.
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military → speak → Oct.
Some express guilt and regret for their involvement.
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Some → express → involvement
Others see themselves as cogs in a necessary war machine.
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Others → see → machine
They want us to understand how these systems of remote surveillance and mass killing work, and to grasp the horrific scale of the civilian deaths.
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systems → want → deaths
It refers to the estimated number of civilian casualties considered acceptable by the Israeli military.
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It → refer → military
"Twenty NAZA" would mean that up to 20 civilian deaths were approved in the elimination of a single target.
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deaths → mean → target
For one high-value target, a figure of 500 NAZA was approved — the population of a small Israeli town, Abraham notes.
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Abraham → approve → town
The logistics of trackings and killings are calmly and methodically laid out.
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logistics → lay → trackings
Because the military can hack into any Palestinian's phone in Gaza, their power of surveillance is near-total.
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power → hack → surveillance
We learn about the military's practice of bombing the homes of suspected Hamas operatives at night, while their wives and children were with them.
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wives → learn → them
We also hear about the widespread use of AI systems to gather intelligence, much of it faulty, about potential targets.
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much → hear → targets
One of the most chilling passages describes a tracking technology referred to as "Where's Daddy?," which uses children's words to confirm whether their targeted fathers are at home.
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fathers → describe → home
One soldier talks about having used this method on a 12-year-old girl, saying, "You hack her phone and then you kill her."
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you → talk → her
At one point, Abraham asks a subject if Israel is committing a genocide.
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Israel → ask → genocide
Without hesitating, he responds, "Yes.
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he → hesitate → ?
As the film notes, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 — and the death toll continues to rise.
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toll → note → Oct.
I've watched NAZA twice now, both times in a state of quiet horror and fury — and with enormous admiration for Abraham and Szor's courage in holding their government to account.
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I → watch → account
My admiration extends to the unerring precision of their filmmaking.
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admiration → extend → filmmaking
NAZA runs just 77 minutes.
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NAZA → run → ?
It doesn't linger on the atrocities it describes, mainly because there are so many of them to address.
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it → linger → them
But most of the imagery we see is of modern-day Tel Aviv at night.
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we → see → night
Szor's camera captures the glittering lights of the city and often peers into apartment windows, showing us Israeli citizens working out, eating meals and watching the news.
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citizens → capture → news
There's tremendous power — and, I think, a stealthy indictment — in these everyday images.
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I → be → images
It's as if the filmmakers are holding up a mirror image to Gaza, turning our thoughts toward the thousands of slain Palestinians who were, once upon a time, also just going about their evenings.
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who → hold → evenings
The most radical thing about NAZA isn't that it exposes the machinery of death; it's the film's insistence on the value of Palestinian life.
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it → expose → life
The Aporia
