Gili Getz
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15 hours ago
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I watched NAZA, a film about Israeli soldiers who served in intelligence testifying about the system and programs of killing and destruction in Gaza they operated. It’s is a difficult film to watch but it’s much better to think about it after actually watching it.
Before the screening, the producer explained that every testimony in the film has multiple sources and was vetted by a meticulous process, it’s not only the soldier. The chair of the NYFF praised the quality of the film’s journalistic work, not only its cinematic work.
The protest against the film that I covered focused on the argument that the soldiers’ testimonies are “unverified” and that the film lacks the context of October 7 and that it’s meant to harm Israel not tell the truth.
Oct 7th was present in every second of this film. It’s a film about the reaction to it. As explicitly stated many times by the soldiers.
Given that there is no independent investigation or reporters on the ground in Gaza, where is that verification supposed to come from? If anything we are likely to see efforts to cover up the crimes. We see government threats to the filmmakers and their lives are in danger.
The film connects what was explicitly said on Israeli television and by its leaders with how it shaped the design of mass killing machine in Gaza. It shows what phrases like “no innocents” and “flatten Gaza” look like in practice. What happens when you dehumanize entire people. Our capacity for violence.
The film does a powerful job of exploring the Israeli psyche after experiencing the mass trauma of October 7, and the human need for revenge that happens to people when they are being butchered. Like Israelis were on Oct 7th and how Palestinians are since then. Almost every day. Oct 7 for them is still ongoing.
Everyone needs to see this film and see what happens when you mix mass trauma, mass dehumanization, no accountability, and the outsourcing of systemic widespread killing to AI. AI is a central part of the killing.
The killing in Gaza devalues all life. Everywhere. It must stop.
At the end of the screening there was silence. Long and painful for the destruction of human life and our inability to stop it. See less
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