Israeli Americans Protest Outside ‘NAZA’ New York Premiere by Screening Oct. 7 Attacks Footage

Dozens of Israeli Americans and members of Jewish communities gathered outside the Lincoln Center on Saturday to protest the premiere of NAZA at the New York Film Festival.

The documentary, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, was filmed at night from Tel Aviv rooftops and examines “the systems behind the mass killing of Palestinian civilians” by Israel‘s military operations in Gaza, the filmmakers previously said.

During the protest, demonstrators screened footage from the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel from LED screens mounted on trucks outside the premiere. Nova festival survivors Rom El-Hai and Shalev Biton also spoke to the crowd, sharing their accounts of Oct. 7.

“We’re here not because we’re saying, don’t show the film,” Israeli-American Council (IAC) co-chair Tal Shuster said of NAZA during the rally. “Everyone has the freedom of speech, that’s the United States. We are saying: it’s not all the facts. Show everything else, not just the documentary.”

“We have the trucks here,” Shuster continued. “Let’s each one of us be an ambassador and show people what actually happened. If you screen the film, invite a survivor, let them speak, at a panel. Let them be heard. Don’t just show one side without the facts from the other side. Before you go into the film, or after it, come hear about what happened in Israel on Oct. 7. 1,200 people were murdered. 251 people were kidnapped. Yes, show all the facts.”

The IAC also launched a petition, “calling on cultural institutions, film festivals and movie theaters across the United States to accompany screenings of NAZA with panels, survivor testimony, and background and context materials,” according to a press release.

“We are not here to silence a movie, but we believe people should watch, ask difficult questions, challenge what they see and decide for themselves, but they also deserve to hear the perspectives and facts that this film does not present,” Noa Peri-Jensch, the IAC’s chief communities officer, added during Saturday’s protest.

NAZA, which took home the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, will start its theatrical release in the U.S. on Oct. 9, followed by a global rollout.

“We made this film out of a sense of obligation to use our position as Israelis to examine the systems behind the mass killing of Palestinian civilians for which our country is responsible,” filmmaker Abraham and Szor previously said of their Israel–Gaza war documentary. “The threats from the Israeli government to revoke our citizenship and the death threats do not change that and will not stop the film. We thank our colleagues for the solidarity and look forward to sharing NAZA all over the world very soon.”