PM pledges bill to strip citizenship from those who smear IDF abroad amid ‘NAZA’ outcry

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he will introduce two bills to punish those who slander IDF soldiers abroad, amid an outcry over the Israeli-made documentary “NAZA,” which alleges that the military killed civilians in Gaza using AI-powered strikes.

The first bill will introduce the option of revoking their citizenship, and the second will increase the sum they can be sued for if found guilty of defamation, Netanyahu said in a video, explicitly referencing The Democrats party chief Yair Golan, former military advocate-general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, and the “NAZA” directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.

“Their place isn’t here,” Netanyahu said of those he mentioned in his video, adding that he expects all Zionist parties to support the measures.

The film is not yet in wide release, and few Israelis have seen it, despite the heated discourse surrounding its claims. Culture Minister Miki Zohar accused Abraham and Szor of treason and also called for the revocation of their citizenship, though he has not given any indication he has seen the movie.

On Wednesday night, dozens protested outside the home of Szor’s parents.

Under current law, the revocation of nationality is legally possible in Israel, although it is rarely applied. In 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the state can revoke the citizenship of those who carry out terror attacks or actions that constitute treason.

The law requires the interior minister to submit the revocation request, the justice minister to approve it, and judges to validate it.

Asked about the call to revoke Abraham’s and Szor’s citizenship on Channel 12 on Wednesday, President Isaac Herzog said, “It has no chance, and it is completely irrelevant.” He added that he considers the movie “a shame and a disgrace.”

He placed blame on the 24 purported anonymous Israeli military intelligence soldiers interviewed in the film.

“As far as I’m concerned, I say to myself, you were soldiers, you were officers, go to your commanders,” he said, referencing the interviewees. “There are forums where you can bring this up; everyone knows these units. Today there is even a special company in the IDF that holds probes on these complaints. So why not do this instead of tarnishing our good name around the world?”

Meanwhile, Israel is changing course in its reaction to “NAZA,” Channel 12 reported, signaling tensions between Netanyahu’s statement and what Israel’s diplomatic corps sees as the country’s best interests.

According to an internal memo obtained by the outlet, Israel has realized that the movie hasn’t created much buzz abroad, and Israel’s reaction is actually fanning the flames.

“Currently, the aggressive response from Israel is causing the conversation to move from the movie itself to accusations that Israel doesn’t allow freedom of speech,” an IDF source dealing with the response told Channel 12. “Therefore, we are lowering our media profile.”

Israeli diplomats told the outlet even before Netanyahu released his video that the Prime Minister’s Office is “igniting the internal argument around the movie for political reasons and as part of the election campaign. One hand is trying to lower the profile, while the other hand is sending the head of the Shin Bet to investigate and ministers to demand that the filmmakers have their citizenship revoked.”

“Israel is stuck between what is right for it internationally and what is right electorally for politicians,” diplomats said, referencing next month’s election.

Testimony in the film alleges “mass killing on an industrial scale” in Gaza, one of the officers said in a series of anonymous interviews, describing an AI-assisted system that identified targets using data gathered from thousands of hacked mobile phones.

The IDF, which likewise has not seen the film, has said it “categorically rejects” the allegations made in the film’s promotional materials, saying that decisions regarding the selection and approval of strikes were made “by human personnel only… and not by artificial intelligence.”

It said that claims cited in the film “regarding national and military strategy that are clearly beyond the knowledge of junior-level soldiers,” and that there are “references to situations in which IDF Intelligence Directorate soldiers, who were allegedly interviewed for the film, by definition would not have been involved.”

Abraham has defended the film’s reporting, done with backing from the British publication The Guardian, calling it “rigorous” and saying its findings were reported by other mainstream journalists as well.

He asserted that the filmmakers had received threats but did not go into more detail.

Abraham and Szor were also part of the team behind the 2024 documentary “No Other Land,” which chronicled Israel’s demolitions in the Palestinian West Bank village of Masafer Yatta and won an Academy Award for best documentary feature.

Dozens protest outside home of NAZA filmmaker’s parents: ‘Death sentence to traitors’

Dozens of people led by far-right provocateur Mordechai David protested outside the home of Szor’s parents in central Israel’s Savyon, footage showed on Wednesday.

In one video, the protesters could be heard chanting, “Death sentence for traitors.” Protesters could also be seen hoisting signs that read, “Betrayal of IDF fallen” and “Denounce the traitors among us.”

מרדכי דוד, רועי סטאר ועשרות נוספים מפגינים מול בית הוריה של רחל שור, יוצרת נז״א. במהלך המחאה זיהו מפגין נגדי, הקולנוען איתמר רוז, והחלו לרדוף אחריו ולדחוף אותו בקריאות ״עונש מוות לבוגדים״ pic.twitter.com/m2fkQQLjQQ

— אורי סלע Uri Sela (@uri_sela) September 16, 2026

Earlier Wednesday, David posted videos of himself from the offices of Local Call, the left-wing outlet that publishes investigations by Abraham, including those that form the basis of the film’s allegations.

David could be seen in one video yelling at a Local Call journalist, “I wouldn’t harass you even if you paid me,” as the journalist called police on her phone.

David posted other videos calling on supporters to come to Savyon on Wednesday night, and vowed to hold similar protests outside the home of Abraham’s parents once he manages to track them down. According to David, Abraham’s parents have fled their address.

The filmmakers themselves are currently abroad, but when they get back to Israel, “wherever they go, we’ll chase them, legally… we’ll block them everywhere in the country,” David said.

AFP contributed to this report.