Israeli minister threatens to strip NAZA filmmakers of citizenship

The Guardian item we log here is the citizenship threat in English-language form: Culture Minister Miki Zohar accused Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor of “treason against the state” after NAZA won Venice’s Special Jury Prize, and said he would move to revoke their Israeli citizenship.

That prize, confirmed on this site by the Guardian’s own press note and by Ynet, is the Special Jury Prize — not a side-bar mention. The film is the only documentary in the 2026 Venice main competition and drew a reported 24.5-minute ovation.

Other briefings already on the site fill in who else spoke: Ben-Gvir’s “disgrace” line, Bennett’s “blood libel,” Netanyahu’s Telegram attack, and the IDF’s rejection of anonymous testimony.

Abraham’s reply, as logged from i24NEWS and Deutsche Welle Arabic, is that critics were condemning a film they had not seen, and that denial lets the killing continue. He also said Israelis should watch the film.

For this unofficial desk, the Guardian piece is the clearest public record of a cabinet minister aiming the state’s membership rules at the two directors. Read the original there; we do not paste it.