NAZA: The Real Story
‘Israel’ tries to undermine NAZA Gaza documentary with similarly-titled production
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
- A 49-minute counter-film called NAZA: The Real Story, made by IDF reservists, has appeared online to challenge the award-winning Gaza documentary NAZA.
- The counter-film sparked outrage online, as creators say it could be an attempt to deceive viewers.
A rapid-response documentary titled NAZA: The Real Story has appeared online, arriving just as the Gaza film "NAZA," recently a Special Jury Prize winner at the Venice Film Festival, draws international attention.
NAZA was directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. The 80-minute original features interviews with 24 ‘Israeli’ military intelligence officers and soldiers. They speak anonymously, with their voices distorted.
The title is a homonym of the Hebrew acronym for collateral damage, and the term, used by ‘Israeli’ intelligence, indicates how many civilians are expected to die in an airstrike. The film centers on allegations that ‘Israel’ intentionally killed tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza using artificial intelligence, among other alleged war crimes.
The other production
The counter-film runs 49 minutes and was made quickly, in a style that mimics the original. One account describes its creators as three ‘Israeli’ reservists and media professionals. It was shot on the same Tel Aviv rooftops as the original, and senior ‘Israeli’ officers describe Hamas fighters in civilian clothes, weapons stored beside children's cribs, and rules of fire strict enough that strikes were canceled whenever doubt remained. Its central argument is that Hamas operated from within civilian areas, hiding weapons in homes, schools, mosques and hospitals.
It is free to watch at nazadocumentary.com in 17 languages. The site's own claim, as reported at the time of writing, is that more than 20 million viewers have already seen it since its release over the weekend.
The Internet’s response
Internet users noted the similarity between the original film and its rebuttal, remarking that it could be an attempt to deceive viewers.
Content creator Abdul Eyad warned viewers about an alleged disinformation campaign surrounding the documentary No Other Land (Naza), saying that the deceptive version of the film was created and distributed across global platforms under the same title to mislead audiences after the original creators made their film available for free.
He explained that the authentic, award-winning documentary features real footage and testimonies from ‘Israeli’ soldiers documenting crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. Abdul Eyad noted that the film's ‘Israeli’ co-directors face severe hostility and legal threats, including potential imprisonment and the revocation of their citizenship, and urged the public to stay vigilant and share the genuine film.
