The feature film NAZA was shot primarily on Tel Aviv rooftops after dark, where journalist Yuval Abraham held private conversations with 24 members of the Israeli military and intelligence community. Their faces and voices are digitally masked to safeguard identity, yet their testimonies paint a stark picture of the operational chain behind the air campaign launched after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. The interviewees recount how they participated in the selection of targets, the use of surveillance tools, and the acceptance of civilian casualties deemed acceptable by military planners.
These rooftop scenes alternate with glimpses of ordinary life in the city – lights spilling onto balconies, families dining, and television screens broadcasting the war. By juxtaposing the mundane with the lethal, the directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor suggest that the same urban backdrop that shelters everyday Israelis also hides a sophisticated killing machine aimed at Gaza.
Core accusations: AI, “Where’s Daddy?” and the NAZA metric
The documentary introduces the Hebrew acronym nezek agavi translated as “collateral damage” which military planners use to quantify acceptable civilian loss. A figure of “twenty NAZA” implies that up to twenty non-combatants may be sacrificed to eliminate a single target, while a claim of “five hundred NAZA” was cited for a high-value operation. The film details how artificial intelligence systems—named Lavender and Habsora—assist analysts in sifting through massive data streams, sometimes producing faulty profiles that nonetheless feed into strike decisions.
One of the most disturbing methods described is a tracking tool nicknamed “Where’s Daddy?” which allegedly exploits a child’s phone to confirm a father’s presence at home before a strike. A soldier recounts using the technique on a twelve-year-old girl, stating, “You hack her phone and then you kill her.” Another interviewee, when asked whether the campaign amounted to genocide, answered unequivocally, “Yes. Completely.” The film cites a death toll exceeding 73,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, underscoring the scale of civilian suffering.
Official Israeli response and legal repercussions
The Israel Defense Forces released a ten-page rebuttal condemning the documentary as “distorted, misleading and disingenuous.” The IDF stresses that humans, not AI, make final targeting decisions and that tools like Lavender merely aid analysts. According to the military, commanders evaluate expected civilian harm, can abort strikes deemed overly risky, and have never approved an operation anticipating 500 civilian deaths. The response also claims the film omits crucial context such as Hamas’s use of civilian areas, warning protocols, and post-strike investigations that have led to dozens of disciplinary actions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labeled the film “incitement,” while Culture Minister Miki Zohar announced intentions to pursue treason charges and revoke the filmmakers’ citizenship. Military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir called the film a “blood libel” and ordered a legal review of possible breaches of classified-information statutes. Despite the harsh rhetoric, the IDF affirmed openness to genuine criticism and noted ongoing investigations into alleged violations of military protocol.
