Members of the Israeli American Council mobilised supporters at cinema venues throughout the United States, directing their attendance toward screenings of the documentary NAZA as part of a coordinated opposition effort.
Produced in a joint venture with a news organisation, the documentary NAZA — directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor — draws on on-camera testimony from unnamed military and intelligence figures who speak to how the Israeli armed forces have deployed artificial intelligence tools and structured targeting operations in Gaza. Drawn from a Hebrew military acronym used to describe anticipated civilian losses, a concept sometimes referred to as collateral damage, the film earned the Special Jury Prize at Venice.
The documentary has drawn objections from detractors who contend it rests on unverified anonymous sources, presents a one-sided portrayal of the Israel Defense Forces, and fails to account for the tactical conditions of conducting operations against Hamas in densely populated urban areas.
A counter-documentary titled "NAZA: The Real Story" took shape through the combined efforts of three filmmakers — Roi Danino, Ariel Averbuch, and Hagay Gutman — who built their case around accounts gathered from IDF soldiers and officers as a direct response to the assertions made in the earlier film.
A rally convened by the IAC outside North Hollywood's Laemmle NoHo 7 theater on Friday — while the documentary screened inside — drew participants who heard the organisation's chief operating officer, Aya Shechter, outline a commitment to challenging what the council characterised as inaccurate portrayals of Israel wherever such portrayals surfaced, and to affirm that those gathered stood in support of the country. Speaking at the gathering, Shechter noted that both those who died on and around the October 7 anniversary and those who have since lost their lives remain present in collective memory, and that the event also stands as a tribute to people no longer able to attend and speak for themselves.
Outside the venue, people gathering for the screening encountered protesters who took issue with what they characterised as inaccuracies and a misleading narrative running through the film. A group of demonstrators wrapped themselves in Israeli and American flags while holding up signs carrying messages such as "Learn the Facts." Among the placards held by those gathered, two messages stood out — one pressing for transparency, another raising doubts about how filmed material reaches the public. Alongside photographs documenting the October 7 attack, participants displayed posters calling for the release of hostages who remain in captivity.
Members of the Newton, Massachusetts, Jewish community joined forces with IAC to put together a full-day protest outside a local venue showing the film that Saturday. Placards reading "Believe Israeli Women" and the hashtag "#METOO_UNLESS_UR_A_JEW" were visible throughout the crowd, while a separate group carried photographs of people taken captive in the October 7 attacks — among them Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, Liri Albag, Agam Berger, and Naama Levy, all of whom have since been released. One demonstrator carried a placard bearing historical imagery beneath the words "MASSACRE OF IRAQI JEWS JUNE 1-2 1941" and the phrase "REMEMBER THE FARHUD," a call to commemorate the anti-Jewish pogrom that struck Baghdad in 1941.
Around 30 people gathered outside the Smith Rafael Film Center in the San Francisco Bay Area on a Tuesday evening last week, with IAC having organised the turnout as a demonstration against a Mill Valley Film Festival screening of NAZA. Those taking part handed out QR codes linking to "NAZA: The Real Story," while a pair of trucks carrying mobile billboards spent two hours looping around the block, their displays showing photographs and video of civilians killed in the October 7 attacks.
The petition put forward by IAC called on cultural institutions, film festivals, and movie theaters throughout the United States to pair screenings of "NAZA" with panel discussions, testimony from survivors, and contextual background materials. That effort ran alongside demonstrations the organisation, together with East End Jews for Israel, the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, and End Jew Hatred, had mounted at earlier showings over the preceding weeks, among them the film's North American debut at Lincoln Center in New York and a stop during the Hamptons International Film Festival.
IAC arranged a Manhattan screening of "NAZA: The Real Story" — the first to take place on US soil — on the Upper East Side as one element of this continuing effort. The screening includes accounts from IDF reservists who served in the field alongside video material showing how Hamas positions its operations among non-combatant populations. Following the screening, a panel discussion is scheduled to take place with co-creators Roi Danino and Ariel Averbuch fielding questions from Lizzy Savetsky, who will conduct the live interview.
The organisation stated that the protests and counter-screenings were designed to complement, rather than block, the film's distribution, with the stated aim of giving audiences access to what it described as a factually grounded account of the October 7 attacks and their consequences.
