A promotional photo for the documentary “NAZA.” Photo: Venice International Film Festival

Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar said on Monday that he has taken action to examine whether the country can revoke citizenship for the Israeli filmmakers behind the anti-Israel documentary “NAZA,” after it made its world premiere at the 83rd Venice Film Festival.

“Anyone who acts against the State of Israel during wartime cannot continue to hold Israeli citizenship,” Zohar wrote in a post on X. “This morning, I contacted the Director General of the Population and Immigration Authority and the Director General of the Ministry of Interior to examine the revocation of Israeli citizenship from the creators of the anti-Israel film ‘NZA’ for breaching their loyalty to the state and collaborating with the enemy, and to investigate how the materials were obtained, who is behind them, and whether in the process of obtaining or publishing them, actions were taken that amount to aiding the enemy during wartime.”

“Freedom of expression is not a license to betray the state,” Zohar added.

Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor filmed “NAZA” at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv. The documentary is highly critical of Israel’s military actions and claims to show “the systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza” explained “by the people who designed and operated them,” according to a synopsis provided by the Venice Film Festival.

The filmmakers interviewed military officers on camera who hid their faces and talked anonymously about Israel’s actions in Gaza during the country’s war against Hamas terrorists, who orchestrated the deadly attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. “NAZA” is a military acronym used to indicate the number of expected civilian casualties in an airstrike.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the film contains “completely false” information and “a series of serious and false allegations regarding the IDF and its personnel.”

“The claims presented in the promotional material are inaccurate, some of which are portrayed in a distorted and misleading manner, disconnected from the reality on the ground,” said IDF spokesperson Effie Defrin. “Since October 7th, the IDF has worked relentlessly to defend the State of Israel and its civilians. Together with the IDF’s commanders, I stand firmly behind our soldiers, commanders, and personnel, and unequivocally reject the baseless accusations directed against them. Those who have made sacrifices and have defended our country, and continue to do so, deserve our full support and protection in return.”

On Sunday, the IDF shared on X a clip from the documentary in which the military is accused of approving a strike against 500 civilians in Gaza. The military has denied the claim made in the film, saying it has “never planned, approved, or carried out a strike in Gaza in which 500 civilians or anything near that number were anticipated to be killed.”

“Nor was any credible claim raised throughout the war suggesting that an IDF strike had caused anything near that number of fatalities,” the IDF clarified. “The filmmakers couldn’t possibly verify this claim, there is no real supporting evidence, and yet they published it anyway. Additionally, nothing about the interviewee, not his service nor his role can be independently checked and verified. No such strike was ever planned, approved, or carried out, yet this is the claim the filmmakers chose to promote their movie with. Judge the rest accordingly.”

“NAZA” received a record-breaking 24.5-minute standing ovation after it premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 10, beating the 22-minute ovation given last year to “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” and also won the festival’s Special Jury Prize. Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, who is this year’s Venice Film Festival jury president, praised the film for its “immense bravery and intelligence” and compared it to the Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest.”

Zohar said he was shocked the jury prize was given to such a “vile” film.

“The self-loathing that burns in the creators, who are willing to harm their homeland just to get applause from antisemites around the world, is inconceivable and constitutes a betrayal of the state,” he wrote on X. “As Minister of Culture, I will act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these despicable creators for betraying the state.”

“NAZA” is produced by the British newspaper The Guardian and James Wilson of JW Films, executive produced by Jonathan Glazer. Wilson and Glazer won an Oscar for “The Zone of Interest,” while Abraham and Szor are two of the four co-directors who won an Oscar for the anti-Israel documentary “No Other Land.”