Protest Planned Outside "NAZA" Film Premiere in New York Over October 7th Footage

As the controversial documentary "NAZA" (NAZA) prepares for its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival on Saturday, the Israeli-American Council (IAC) will hold a rally outside the venue. The IAC plans to display footage from the October 7th Hamas attack on large screens, protesting the film's portrayal of the war.

The rally, scheduled to begin half an hour before the film screening, will feature raw documentation from "October 7: Bearing Witness to the Massacre," including videos taken by Hamas terrorists. The IAC stated that the displayed materials will also challenge claims made in "NAZA," raising questions about the film's sources and the methods of its creators. "Films have editors. History does not," the IAC declared, vowing not to allow October 7th to be erased from the narrative. The event is expected to include survivors of the Nova music festival and an Israeli-Bedouin man who rescued dozens during the attack.

Filmmaker Yuval Abraham addressed criticism of the film's focus, stating, "Acknowledging the atrocities in Gaza does not for a moment diminish the heinous massacre of October 7th, for which Hamas is responsible, which soldiers talk about in the film, and which has no justification." He added that ignoring events in Gaza contributed to the lead-up to that "terrible Saturday."

The film itself, based on interviews with 24 individuals identified as soldiers and intelligence personnel whose faces and voices are disguised, explores the methods used by intelligence units and the air force in targeting and approving strikes. Interviewees discuss the "NAZA" protocol, an acronym for "incidental damage," detailing how Hamas operatives' homes were mapped and their locations tracked to calculate potential civilian casualties. Some interviewees claim hundreds of civilians could be killed in certain strikes, with one describing the process as akin to a computer game. The film includes claims of unjustified drone killings and a comparison to the Holocaust, with one interviewee stating the actions constitute genocide.

The documentary does not extensively detail the October 7th massacre, with abduction footage censored. It also omits IDF operations aimed at minimizing civilian harm, Hamas's use of civilians as human shields, and the IDF's response to the allegations. The IDF previously stated that the identities and roles of the film's interviewees are unverifiable and denied approving strikes with expected civilian casualties of 500 or more, asserting adherence to international law and efforts to reduce civilian harm.