The breakthrough at the Venice Film Festival, the Special Jury Prize, and the strong condemnations from the Israeli government. Then success in Italian cinemas: already nearly 4 million euros in box office receipts, according to Cinetel data. Naza, the documentary about the war in Gaza by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, is not only one of the film stories of the year. It is also one of the most effective political and cultural communication projects connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The film, built around anonymous testimonies from 24 members of the Israeli military and intelligence services, describes how systems for identifying military targets in the Gaza Strip operate, the use of artificial intelligence, and the criteria applied to assess potential civilian victims. It offers a stark reconstruction that holds Israeli authorities responsible for deliberately accepting high levels of Palestinian civilian casualties.
The Israeli government rejects these accusations and regards the documentary as a distorted portrayal of military operations. Benjamin Netanyahu publicly attacked it and even proposed a law to revoke citizenship from those who defame Israeli soldiers.
The controversy has not hindered the film’s circulation. On the contrary, it has helped turn it into an international media event. But the two directors are not the only actors behind this outcome. There is an established network of news outlets, foundations, cultural organizations and groups active in the boycott movement against Israel. Much of this network’s funding and professional links are public and documentable, and Adnkronos was able to verify them. They do not prove the existence of a single directing body, but they help explain how Naza became a product with global reach.
Israeli criticism and the role of the controversy
The project’s communicative strength is also evident from the reaction it provoked in Israel.
Netanyahu accused the documentary of defaming Israeli soldiers and, in September, announced his intention to promote stricter rules against those who portray them as war criminals. These statements fueled internal political debate, while the directors reported receiving threats and intimidation.
But objections do not come only from the government.
In a detailed response published on October 1, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accused the film of containing substantial errors, decontextualized testimonies and a misleading depiction of target-selection procedures.
In particular, the military disputes that any attack was ever authorized with an estimated 500 civilian casualties, as reported in the documentary. It also rejects the idea that artificial intelligence systems can autonomously decide whom to strike, arguing that the data processed by technological tools are subject to further checks and a chain of human authorizations.
Israel’s position is that the film conflates preliminary estimates of possible collateral damage with final operational decisions, overlooking measures taken to reduce risks to civilians. Another criticism concerns context: focusing on Israeli bombardments, the film would leave in the background the massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, the issue of hostages, and the use of civilian infrastructure by Palestinian militias.
The directors and the British newspaper The Guardian, which co-produced Naza, replied that they consulted more than a hundred sources, including officials with responsibility in decision-making processes, and that they verified the testimonies through documents and independent cross-checks.
The Guardian, +972 and the network of foundations
To understand how Naza reached such a wide audience, it is necessary to trace the journalistic organizations behind the investigations on which it is based.
The Guardian, co-producer with James Wilson (JW Films), is the main channel of international visibility, and there is talk of a future free streaming distribution on the British newspaper’s site to maximize reach. Among the executive producers is Jonathan Glazer, the Oscar-winning director of The Zone of Interest.
Another important component is +972 Magazine and its Hebrew edition, Local Call, both of which have for years focused on documenting Israeli military actions.
Yuval Abraham works for Local Call, which was founded and is jointly published by the U.S. organization Just Vision and 972 Advancement of Citizen Journalism, the Israeli association that publishes +972 Magazine.
According to the contribution records of the Open Society Foundations, the network founded by financier George Soros and now led by his son Alexander, over the years 1.125 million dollars were allocated to Just Vision and another 400 thousand dollars to 972 Advancement of Citizen Journalism. Part of the funding explicitly aimed to develop Local Call.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has also supported Just Vision, with two multi-year grants of $335,000 and $300,000 awarded in 2021 and 2024 respectively.
The same foundations separately fund other organizations active in defending Palestinian rights, including some that explicitly support the boycott of Israel.
This point should be clarified: these are funds to journalistic and cultural organizations, not verified contributions to the film production of Naza. There is no public evidence sufficient to claim that Open Society, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund or other donors commissioned the film or influenced its content.
However, one significant fact remains: part of the journalistic structures that fed the project have operated for years thanks in part to support from large international foundations, within a cultural environment openly critical of Israeli government policies.
When journalism becomes activism
The boundary between reporting and political mobilization is not hidden by some of the organizations involved. It is, in fact, openly claimed.
In an interview published by the Jewish Liberation Fund, Dana Mills, head of resource development at +972 Magazine, explained that the outlet’s aim is to combine independent journalism and activism against occupation and apartheid.
Her formulation is particularly explicit: “Our journalistic work is our activism.”
Mills also states that the newsroom maintains rigorous professional standards and considers its independence fundamental. The outlet does not claim neutrality of its positions, but argues that a clear political perspective can coexist with investigative rigor.
Moreover, Just Vision openly describes its mission as combining journalism, documentary filmmaking and strategic public engagement, with the aim of influencing debate and perceptions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It is precisely this integration between content production and mobilization capacity that represents one of the most distinctive aspects of the ecosystem surrounding Naza.
Connections also pass through people. Noa Yachot, a board member of +972 Magazine and a senior editor at The Guardian in the United States, is listed among the documentary’s co-producers. On the same +972 board sits Yousef Munayyer, formerly executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, an organization that supports the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions).
Among the executive producers is also Wendy vanden Heuvel, connected to PalFest, a Palestinian cultural initiative that supports boycott campaigns against certain Israeli publishers.