Gaza documentary ‘NAZA’ ignites protest outside Hamptons International Film Festival
The Sag Harbor Police Department says both the protest and the screening concluded peacefully, with no incidents reported.
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Protesters gathered outside the Sag Harbor Cinema to demonstrate against the documentary “NAZA."
The film, whose title is an acronym used by Israel's military that means collateral damage, was being screened as part of the Hamptons International Film Festival on Saturday.
Filmed in secret over three years from rooftops across Tel Aviv, it features interviews with 24 Israeli military and intelligence insiders who provide their accounts of the war in Gaza.
The documentary alleges that Israel uses artificial intelligence to identify and target suspected Hamas operatives in Gaza, and that some strikes are carried out despite expectations that civilians will also be killed, a practice the filmmakers characterize as a systematic killing of Palestinian civilians.
The Israeli-American Council argues the documentary does not accurately portray the facts and has called on theaters and film festivals to provide additional context when screening it.
"The goal of the protest was for a proud Jewish-American and Israeli to stand outside every place this film screens and say the truth of our people: that the IDF is the most moral army in the world, and no film, no stage, can blur that," said Ido Cohen, one of the leaders of the Hamptons protest and a member of the Israeli-American Council (IAC) community. "Just stop lying. The truth matters most, and the truth will win in the end."
Internationally, the documentaries claim has drawn condemnation and accusations of war crimes. Nearly three years of war have destroyed most of Gaza and killed at least 73,789 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
In response to the planned demonstration, the Sag Harbor Police Department increased its presence along Main Street as a precaution.
Police said both the protest and the screening concluded peacefully, with no incidents reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.
