Netanyahu Moves to Strip Citizenship From Israelis Who 'Defame' IDF Soldiers Over Gaza War Documentary

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday, September 16, that he will introduce two government bills to the Knesset targeting Israelis who criticize the IDF. One would revoke citizenship from anyone who "defames" Israeli soldiers. The other would raise the damages that can be sought in defamation lawsuits against them twentyfold.

"We will hit them in their pockets and also in their citizenship, because their place is not among us," Netanyahu said in a video posted to X, captioned "we will stand by our heroic warriors," according to Middle East Eye and TheWrap. Neither bill has been voted on. Both require Knesset approval before they carry legal force.

Current Israeli law allows citizenship revocation on grounds of treason or terrorism. Netanyahu's proposal would expand that to cover public criticism, or what officials are calling "defamation," of the military.

The Film Behind the Fight

The trigger is NAZA, an 80-minute documentary that won the Special Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on Saturday, September 12, after a 25-minute standing ovation the festival says is a record. It was directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the Israeli half of the filmmaking team behind No Other Land, which won the 2025 Academy Award for best documentary.

The film is built on interviews with 24 anonymized Israeli military and intelligence insiders, filmed secretly over three years on rooftops in Tel Aviv with their voices and appearances digitally altered, according to Anadolu Agency. NAZA is the acronym Israel's military intelligence agency Aman reportedly uses for the number of civilians expected to die in a given strike.

According to Middle East Eye, one insider in the film says a strike expected to kill up to 500 civilians was approved to target a single senior Hamas figure. Other interviewees describe residential areas used as shelters being set on fire and people being killed while seeking food aid, per Anadolu.

The IDF has rejected the film's allegations, saying it operates "in accordance with international law and the laws of armed conflict." No independent verification of the film's specific claims is presented in these sources. The claims remain contested: the film's insiders assert the casualty levels were deliberate policy, the IDF denies it, and no court or independent inquiry cited in these reports has ruled on the dispute either way.

Threats, Investigations, and No Charges Yet

Culture Minister Miki Zohar called the film "despicable" on X, accused its directors of "treason against the state," and said he would move to strip their citizenship. He also asked Shin Bet chief David Zini to open an urgent investigation, according to Israel's public broadcaster KAN. IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir separately ordered the military prosecutor to examine possible legal action against the filmmakers, while insisting the army acted lawfully.

No charges have been filed against Abraham or Szor. No court has ruled on any of the allegations in the film. Zohar's request to Shin Bet is a request, not a confirmed open investigation.

The pressure has extended well past government statements. According to The Guardian, dozens of far-right activists gathered outside the home of Szor's parents on Wednesday night, organized in part by activists tied to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party. One protester called for the "death penalty for traitors" and demanded the demolition of the filmmakers' family homes. A mural appeared in Ashdod depicting Abraham and Szor with crosshairs, horns, and the Hebrew word for "traitors."

Coverage and Sourcing

Sourcing on this story splits sharply on framing, not on the basic facts of what Netanyahu proposed. Novara Media described the events as occurring amid "Israel's genocide in Gaza" and cited a Palestinian death toll of "more than 73,000 including 21,000 children" as settled fact, without attributing that child-casualty figure to a specific health authority. Anadolu Agency, by contrast, attributes its similar overall toll, more than 73,000 killed and over 174,000 injured, explicitly to Palestinian authorities, which is the more precise sourcing standard: these are figures reported by one side's health officials in an active war, not independently audited numbers.

The Guardian's account of the financial bill also differs in specifics from Netanyahu's own words. The Guardian reported the defamation bill would "double the amount of a defamation claim to 1m shekels without proof of damage," while Netanyahu's own statement, as quoted by Middle East Eye, Anadolu, and TheWrap, describes a twentyfold increase in damages. Those are not the same number, and no source resolves which figure will end up in the actual bill text once it reaches the Knesset.

Stripping citizenship for speech, even speech the government calls slander, is the kind of move that would draw immediate constitutional challenges in most Western democracies. Israel's own legal system has yet to weigh in. Whether Netanyahu's coalition has the votes to pass either bill, whether Israel's Supreme Court would strike down a citizenship-for-speech law if passed, and whether Shin Bet actually opens a probe into the filmmakers remain open questions. So does the film's central factual claim: that mass civilian casualties in Gaza were approved by design rather than accident, an allegation the IDF flatly denies and no independent body cited in these reports has adjudicated.