Record‑Breaking Ovation for Controversial Documentary NAZA Highlights AI‑Assisted Targeting Claims

NAZA, directed by Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham, is a documentary that claims Israel uses AI‑assisted military systems to target Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The film relies on anonymized testimony from 24 Israeli military insiders.

The world premiere took place on Thursday at the Venice Film Festival. According to reports, the applause lasted 24 minutes and 30 seconds, beating the previous record set by The Voice of Hind Rajab last year and by Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth at Cannes in 2006.

Some audience members unfurled Palestinian and Lebanese flags as the lights came up, underscoring the political charge of the moment.

The Israel Defence Forces issued a statement that it "categorically rejects" the allegations and says that strike decisions are made by humans, not machines. It also questioned the verifiability of anonymous testimonies.

NAZA is presented as a companion piece to No Other Land, the filmmakers’ earlier documentary that won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2025. The pairing links the current controversy to a previously celebrated work.

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