Netanyahu Pledges Bills to Revoke Citizenship of Anyone Who Defames Israeli Soldiers, Citing NAZA Film

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to pass a law that would revoke the citizenship of anyone who defames Israel’s soldiers, including the directors of NAZA, a documentary about Israeli soldiers’ killings of civilians in Gaza.

NAZA was directed by Israeli journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. The film documents allegations that mass civilian deaths were built into Israel’s target decisions in its war against Palestinians in Gaza. Netanyahu and the army reject that claim. The film is built around anonymous interviews with intelligence officers and soldiers, and its title comes from an Israeli military term for expected “collateral casualties.” It won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival last week. During his acceptance speech, Abraham said, “our country is doing these crimes,” and stated that Israel is systematically and deliberately targeting Palestinians in Gaza. The documentary had earlier set a record at Venice for the longest standing ovation in the festival’s history, at 24.5 to 25 minutes on September 12, 2026, according to AFP.

The film has been harshly criticised in Israel, and the military is examining potential legal action against those involved in it. Reports also link the film to the domestic political climate ahead of Israel’s October 27 election, as public opinion polls suggest Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition could fall short of a majority in parliament. On Tuesday, Netanyahu accused several of his election rivals of failing to take a tough stand against the documentary, claiming this made them unfit for office.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu pledged to advance two bills that he said would address the “immense damage” done to Israeli soldiers in the film. In a social media video, he said: “The first [order]: To revoke the citizenship of anyone who defames [Israeli] soldiers, and the second: To hit them in their pockets and increase the statutory damages for defamation they can be sued for by 20 times.” He added, “We will hit them both in their pockets and in their citizenship, as their place is not with us.”

Netanyahu cited three examples in proposing the bills. He pointed to “the recent film NAZA which portrayed [Israeli] officers and soldiers as war criminals,” to 2025 remarks by left-wing former general-turned-politician Yair Golan that “a sane country does not kill children as a hobby,” and to a 2024 leak by a military legal officer of a video showing soldiers abusing a Gaza detainee. Honest speech about others, the heart of this dispute over defamation, is the point where the Scripture applies (Exodus 23:1).

The report states that Israel’s Supreme Court passed a law in 2022 that permits stripping citizenship from Israelis who carry out actions that constitute a breach of trust against the state. It also says any new legislation would likely face similar court challenges.

More than 73,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 2023, according to health authorities.

Source: Read the original report