NAZA review: Israeli documentary is a living nightmare — and required viewing

Israeli documentary NAZA offers an unsettling, immersive exploration of the Israeli military's use of advanced technology to target and kill Palestinians. Directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the film features interviews with 24 anonymous Israeli military and intelligence officers, conducted on rooftops in Tel Aviv. The most notable system discussed is Lavender, an AI program that generates a kill list based on phone activity and proximity to known militants, which has reportedly targeted up to 37,000 people.

The film also covers "Where's Daddy?", a system that monitors family members of militants to determine when they will be at home, allowing Israeli forces to bomb the home and kill the target and their entire household. The term NAZA, Hebrew for collateral damage, is used to dehumanize the victims of these strikes. The film avoids showing the consequences of these operations until the final moments, creating a chilling, accountable atmosphere that forces viewers to confront the facts presented.

While some interviewees justify their work by removing emotion from the killing or claiming they were just following orders, their compartmentalization and the film's insistence on maintaining a distance from Gaza is reminiscent of the tactics seen in Jonathan Glazer's 2023 film, The Zone of Interest. NAZA serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing, large-scale killing taking place in Gaza and a warning to prevent such atrocities from happening again.