NAZA examines Israeli intelligence personnel involved in Gaza assault
NAZA, a documentary by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, features anonymised Israeli intelligence personnel discussing their role in the assault on Gaza. It belongs to a tradition of “perpetrator cinema” that tries to understand people who carry out atrocities, confronting viewers with questions about responsibility, empathy and complicity.
The article compares NAZA with The Act of Killing, Standard Operating Procedure and The Zone of Interest, which examine Indonesian death squads, abuse at Abu Ghraib and life beside Auschwitz. NAZA’s subjects are educated Tel Aviv professionals, some of whom cite the 7 October attacks as justification; one acknowledges that they have been conducting genocide. The film has drawn criticism for centring perpetrators when Palestinians have already documented events in Gaza, while the Israeli government has threatened its directors.
- NAZA gives anonymised Israeli intelligence personnel a platform to discuss Gaza.
- The film renews debate about how cinema should portray perpetrators.
- Critics question whether perpetrators’ accounts add to Palestinians’ documentation.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Calling the shots: what NAZA says about perpetrator cinema”.