Netanyahu Threatens to Revoke Citizenship of NAZA Filmmakers | Israel-Palestine News

Netanyahu Pledges Dual Legislative Penalties Targeting Critics of Israeli Soldiers

According to official statements and social media videos released by the prime minister, the government intends to advance two specific bills designed to address what he termed the immense damage done to Israeli soldiers.

Detailing the measures, Netanyahu stated, 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, adding further that, We ⁠will hit them both in their pockets and in their citizenship, as their place is not with us. These proposals target incidents including the Venice Film Festival-winning documentary NAZA, remarks by left-wing politician Yair Golan, and a 2024 military leak.

The Film NAZA, Festival Acclaim, and the Domestic Political Fallout

At the center of the legislative push is the documentary NAZA, directed by Israeli journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. According to reporting from major outlets, the film takes its title from an Israeli military term denoting expected collateral casualties and relies on anonymous interviews with intelligence officers and soldiers to allege that mass civilian deaths were built into target decisions during the Gaza war. More than 73,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 2023, according to health authorities.

The film earned the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, during which co-director Yuval Abraham declared in his acceptance speech that our country is doing these crimes and argued that Israel systematically targets Palestinians. While the military has examined potential legal action against those involved, the documentary has heavily impacted the domestic landscape ahead of the October 27 election. Public opinion polls indicate Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition could fall short of a parliamentary majority. Responding to the political pressure, Netanyahu accused his election rivals on Tuesday of failing to take a tough enough stance against the film.

Legal Precedents, Past Controversies, and Concurrent Citizenship Revocation Efforts

The proposed defamation and citizenship-stripping bills face a complex legal road. In 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court passed a law permitting the revocation of citizenship from individuals who commit actions constituting a breach of trust against the state, meaning any new legislation would likely trigger intense court challenges. This legal battleground mirrors a separate, concurrent move by Netanyahu. According to Fox News reporting, Netanyahu asked a court on Thursday, September 17, 2026, to revoke the Israeli citizenship of two Palestinian men convicted of terrorism offenses—marking what appears to be the first use of the 2023 law allowing deportation and citizenship stripping for specific violent crimes tied to Palestinian Authority financial support funds.

Critics have sharply opposed both fronts of these citizenship efforts. Hassan Jabareen, the general director of Israel’s Adalah legal center, criticized the use of the 2023 law as a cynical propaganda move that violates the basic principles of the rule of law by stripping individuals of the very foundation through which all rights are protected, their nationality. Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s proposed defamation bills specifically reference three controversial incidents: the film NAZA portraying soldiers as war criminals, Yair Golan’s 2025 statement that a sane country does not kill children as a hobby, and a military legal officer’s 2024 leak of a video showing soldiers abusing a Gaza detainee.