{"id":95571,"date":"2026-09-28T03:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=95571"},"modified":"2026-09-28T03:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:21:16","slug":"naza-documentary-draws-sold-out-crowd-and-protests-at-us-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/naza-documentary-draws-sold-out-crowd-and-protests-at-us-premiere\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018NAZA\u2019 documentary draws sold-out crowd \u2013 and protests \u2013 at US premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JOSEPH STRAUSS<\/p>\n

(New York Jewish Week<\/em> via JTA) \u2014 Even a powerful Nor\u2019easter couldn\u2019t stop the crowds from showing up at the North American premiere of the controversial Israeli documentary \u201cNAZA\u201d on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

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Noa Peri-Jensch, chief communities officer of the Israeli-American Council, speaks at a rally criticizing the documentary “NAZA” as it gets its North American premiere at Lincoln Center in New York on Sept. 26, 2026. (Joseph Strauss\/JTA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The two weekend screenings scheduled at Lincoln Center as part of the New York Film Festival sold out in minutes. Dozens of people waited in a box office standby line that stretched around the corner despite the blustery conditions, while at least one local politician scored a ticket: Brad Lander, the Jewish progressive and Democratic nominee for New York\u2019s 10th Congressional District.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, two groups of Israeli-Americans showed up on Saturday with no intention of going inside the theater: one demonstrating in solidarity with the filmmakers, and a larger group across the street that denounced the film as they waved Israeli flags.<\/p>\n

The documentary, which was produced by The Guardian and alleges that Israeli forces knowingly killed large numbers of civilians in Gaza, has received early acclaim, winning the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. It will be made available for free on The Guardian\u2019s website later this fall.<\/p>\n

John Kwiatkowski, senior manager of publicity and communications for Film at Lincoln Center, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that \u201cNAZA sold out almost immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

But \u201cNAZA,\u201d whose name is the Hebrew acronym for \u201ccollateral damage,\u201d has also roiled a number of Israeli officials and the country\u2019s military. The Israel Defense Forces issued a public rebuttal after the film\u2019s reception in Venice, with the IDF chief of staff calling the film a \u201cdeliberate distortion of reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israeli filmmakers, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, have faced intense backlash at home. Israel\u2019s culture minister threatened to strip them of their citizenship and protesters accused the duo of treason in a demonstration outside Szor\u2019s parents\u2019 home. <\/p>\n

Roni Tamari, who organized the rally supporting the filmmakers on Saturday, called the Israeli reaction \u201cout of proportion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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About a dozen people involved with the group Israelis for Peace showed up in solidarity with the \u201cNAZA\u201d filmmakers, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, outside its premiere at Lincoln Center. (Joseph Strauss\/JTA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

David Lawson, a Jewish Queens resident who had purchased a ticket for the Saturday premiere, told JTA that he\u2019d appreciated Abraham and Szor\u2019s previous film, \u201cNo Other Land,\u201d which focused on settler violence in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta.<\/p>\n

Minutes before the screening\u2019s slated start time, Lawson said that he was \u201cvery excited\u201d to see \u201cNAZA,\u201d not just for what it will say \u201cabout Israel, but also just about the alarming use of AI in warfare in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawson said he likes \u201cto hope that the tide is shifting on acceptance of Zionism in the United States,\u201d and that support for \u201cNAZA\u201d was an example of that shift. He also said he was \u201cexpecting\u201d to see protesters who disagreed with the film. \u201cPathetic,\u201d another person in line chimed in, describing the demonstration.<\/p>\n

They were referring to the protest organized by the Israeli-American Council, which drew dozens of critics of the film who believe it omits the context of Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attack in its depiction of the IDF\u2019s military campaign in Gaza. Speakers included IAC\u2019s chief communities officer Noa Peri-Jensch and a pair of survivors of the Nova music festival that Hamas attacked.  <\/p>\n

A fleet of four black trucks circled the area with LED screens that displayed images of Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack along with various messages. \u201cMovies have editors. History does not,\u201d one message read. The trucks were commissioned by the IAC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe mourn every innocent life lost in this war, Israeli or Palestinian,\u201d Peri-Jensch said during the rally. \u201cBut compassion for Palestinian civilians does not require [us] to erase Oct. 7, ignore Hamas or accept one narrative without questioning it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Peri-Jensch was not calling for the film\u2019s screenings to be canceled, she said in an interview, but rather for them to be paired \u201cwith context\u201d at festivals, like panels featuring Oct. 7 survivors.<\/p>\n

Asked about Israeli officials\u2019 threats toward the filmmakers and the demonstrators calling them traitors, Peri-Jensch said she \u201ccannot comment on what people in Israel do, I can only comment here,\u201d adding that viewers \u201cdeserve to know the full scope.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor pose with the Special Jury Prize Award for \u201cNaza\u201d during the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 12, 2026, in Venice, Italy. (Stephane Cardinale \u2013 Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed legislation last week that would strip the Israeli filmmakers of their citizenship, while the Israeli army has weighed taking legal action against them.<\/p>\n

Protesters gathered outside Szor\u2019s parents\u2019 home multiple nights in a row last week calling on authorities to \u201cexpel the traitors.\u201d One speaker called for Abraham and Szor to be executed while the crowd chanted, \u201cExecute the traitors.\u201d Participants in the right-wing protest included activists and campaign staff from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir\u2019s far-right party, according to Haaretz. <\/p>\n

On Saturday, Nova massacre survivor Rom El-Hai himself referred to the filmmakers as \u201ctraitors,\u201d and said that there have been \u201cliars\u201d like Abraham and Szor within the Jewish community since the Bible and during the Holocaust. <\/p>\n

In an interview following his remarks, El-Hai said it isn\u2019t his job to say how exactly Abraham and Szor should be dealt with in Israeli society, but that they \u201cshould be punished\u201d and that they cannot \u201clive their life in Israel like nothing happened.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need to understand there is a price for what they\u2019re doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Near the standby line running along the sidewalk of Broadway, about a dozen demonstrators who are involved with the group Israelis for Peace held signs reading, \u201cWe stand by the countless victims in Gaza and Rachel & Yuval for speaking truth to power.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tamari, one of the organizers, said she felt it was \u201cactually very disrespectful\u201d for images of wounded and killed Oct. 7 victims to be shown in public.<\/p>\n

Moshe Kayam, an Israeli-American who demonstrated in solidarity with the \u201cNAZA\u201d filmmakers on Saturday, said IAC\u2019s rally was \u201cdoing a disservice\u201d because the Oct. 7 attacks were indeed \u201chorrendous,\u201d but \u201cdid not justify the mass killing\u201d of civilians in Gaza. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the truth to come out,\u201d Kayam said of the film. \u201cWe want everyone to see what really happened there, and the damage that it caused to Gaza, to Israel\u2019s image and to us as Israelis.\u201d<\/p>\n

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