Naza

Yuval Abraham & Rachel Stor: Naza (GB 2026). Poster art: McLaren.

Naza is a non-fiction movie consisting of nighttime interviews with 24 Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers, conducted by Yuval Abraham over three years on rooftops in Tel Aviv. Shown only as dark silhouettes with voices distorted to protect their identities.

    GB © 2026 The Guardian. The Guardian presents with JW Films in association with Placeholder Films and Unseen Hand. Executive Producer Jonathan Glazer. A film by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.

    Directed by:  Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor

    Produced by:  Harry Davies, Lindsay Poulton, James Wilson

    Executive Producer:  Jonathan Glazer

    Executive Producers for the Guardian:  Paul Lewis, Nicole Jackson

    Executive Producers:  Joseph Schull, Harriet Gugenheim, Wendy van den Heuvel

    Co Producers:  Ekaterina Ochagavia, Noa Yachot

    For The Guardian:  Katharine Viner, Owen Gibson, Betsy Reed, Bethan McKernan

    Cinematography:  Anonymous, Rachel Szor

    Editors:  Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Harry Davies

    Supervising Sound Editor:  Robert Farr

    Sound Editing:  Lars Ginzel, Benjamin Hörbe

    Additional Drones:  Mica Levi, Rudi Zygadlo

    VFX Artists:  Clark Kimberly, Ian Hutchinson, Rudi H, Swordfish, Albert Isaac, river

Location: Tel Aviv.

In Hebrew and English 

80 min

    Finnish premiere: 2 Oct 2026 – distributed by B-Plan Distribution Oy – English subtitles n.c.

    Viewed at Engel 1, Helsinki, 31 Oct 2026. 

Wikipedia capsule: "Produced by The Guardian and JW Films, it investigates the integration of artificial intelligence and automated surveillance in military targeting systems used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the ongoing Gaza war and genocide. Its title is derived from Nezek Agavi (Hebrew: נזק אגבי), the Hebrew military term for collateral damage."

Benyamin Netanyahu on terrorism (quoted in Naza): "Because what terrorists do is target the innocents deliberately. My definition of terrorism is the systematic and deliberate attack, the murder, maiming and menacing of innocent civilians for political goals." Benyamin Netanyahu on Firing Line with William F. Buckley, Jr., 30 May 1986

Naza = collateral damage.

AA: They confess everything.

An elite soldier, having visited Poland, "I still see those Nazis as evil, but what does that mean I am?" Asked whether he has participated in genocide, he says "yes". "We intended to kill those children".

The aim is the systematic destruction of everything before we lose international legitimacy.

We erase history.

We don't collect bodies. Dogs eat them.

Total telephonic surveillance.

You feel a bit like God.

No infrastructure.

We control them.

The basic unit is the home.

Algorithm based mass killing on a huge scale.

There are no innocents in Gaza.

Erase Gaza.

We spy victims of war crimes.

The goal is to thwart peace. To make sure there is no political horizon.

Massacring people at food sites.

Completing missions is insane fun. Enjoyment in completing your mission.

Snipers killing people trying to get food from outside the bridge.

I hope the Nuremberg Trial for these perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide comes as soon as possible. Confessions we have, as well as evidence and documentation. We now see these guys as shadows in the night. We need to see them in the glass booth.

What they have done is the biggest disgrace in Jewish history. The biggest disgrace in IDF history: to be reduced to baby-killers. What's more, the IDF has been reduced to Schreibtischtäter like Adolf Eichmann. They conduct a massacre on remote.

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor juxtapose their interviews with footage about a tribute to Claude Lanzmann (1925–2018) on 27 January, the Holocaust Day / Yom HaShoah.

Words fail.

...

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT

On 7 October, 2023, Hamas and its allies conducted a terrorist attack against Israel, massacring at least 1195 and taking at least 251 hostages, the most horrible assault against Jews since the Holocaust.

My comment: soon after the terrorist strike I learned (from The New York Times I recall) that the Israel Border Police was aware well in advance of Hamas rehearsals of such an attack in the immediate vicinity of the border post where it indeed took place. Repeated warnings were ignored, and when the attack took place, the (female) border guards who had been the most alert, were the first to be raped and murdered.

My intuition is that Benjamin Netanyahu knew that such an attack was forthcoming, and he did not prevent it, because it would provide him with a motive for the most excessive retribution imaginable – the destruction of Gaza and the West Bank – and ultimately, the destruction of Iran. He was in a hurry, since he believed that Donald J. Trump would be re-elected President and support him. A race against time for both old men.

On the other hand, what was at stake for Hamas and its allies was not terror but provocation. To provoke Israel to excessive retribution, to disgrace itself utterly, lose its international prestige and exceptional goodwill dating back to the Holocaust. Hamas fighters had nothing to lose. If killed, they would find eternal glory.

Israel has followed the Hamas script precisely. Just like the United States followed the Al-Qaeda script after the 11 September 2001 attacks. Hamas and Al-Qaeda are evil. We are stupid.