Naza: When a Film is the News

Dan Senor (0:00)

There's never been more coverage of Israel and the Jewish world, and there's never been less of it, worth trusting. That's why ARK Media exists, and our subscribers are what make this possible.

Join us at arkmedia.org. And to our subscribers, thank you.

SPEAKER_2 (0:21)

You are listening to an ARK Media Podcast.

Dan Senor (0:39)

It's 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 17th in New York City. It's 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 17th in Israel, as Israelis begin to wind down their day.

The biggest story of this past week, at least in terms of the press coverage it attracted, was not the Houthis' attack on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea ports or their attempted attack on the holy city of Mecca.

It also wasn't that Israel and Morocco agreed to open mutual embassies or that three Jewish schoolboys were tragically assaulted on a London bus.

No, it was a film that screened at the Venice Film Festival, which accuses Israel of intentional mass civilian killing in Gaza. The film, titled Naza, received a 25 minute long standing ovation, the longest standing ovation in the history of the Venice Film Festival and I assume just about any film festival. But what makes this story particularly bizarre is that while millions of people immediately formed a strong opinion about this film, the number of people who actually watch this film is smaller than the number of people listening to this episode of Call Me Back. And it is certainly smaller than the number of people who've watched the new season of Fauda on Netflix, which, though fictional, does recount the story of Hamas' atrocities on October 7th. Having not seen this film, I did not feel like I had anything to add to this discourse, nor did I think that many of the people who did actually contributed much to it. That's until I listened to Yossi Klein Halevi and Donniel Hartman's most recent episode on Ark Media's For Heaven's Sake podcast. They too have not seen the film, but while they themselves have been critical of Israel's conduct of the war at certain times, they also point out facts that clearly illustrate that the standing ovation both at the event and outside of it, has more to do with the people clapping than the accusations themselves, because much of the film's testimony is anonymous and impossible to independently verify. Meanwhile, the role of Hamas and its own brutality against civilians disappears. It is practically absent from the narrative. If there's one conversation you should listen to as it relates to Naza, it is this one. So we decided to drop it in our Call Me Back feed in case you missed it. Please give it a close listen. We'll be right back with the special replay of For Heaven's Sake.

Donniel Hartman (3:15)

I'm Deborah Pardes, the host of ARC News Daily. What's happening in Israel and the Jewish world right now matters. But it could be hard to keep up, let alone make sense of it all. That's why we started ARC News Daily.

Every weekday morning, I walk you through the most important news, give you the context you need, and let you know what to look out for next. I don't try to convince you of anything, and I don't waste your time. On most days, I'll be in your ears for about 10 minutes or less. Then you can move on with your day, hopefully a little bit smarter than before.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or follow the link in the show notes. I hope to see you tomorrow.

Yossi Klein Halevi (4:00)

The first thing we learned about the film was not about the film at all. It was the standing ovation.

Nearly 25 minutes of a standing ovation. I can't imagine what it's like to be clapping your hands for 25 minutes without interruption. There's something so profoundly totalitarian about that.

Donniel Hartman (4:23)

It was a declaration of disgust of Israel. Independent of the movie.

If you don't show your disgust well enough, you sin if you only have 22 minutes of disgust. I embrace all criticism. But with this movie, I found myself like from the beginning, just shutting down.

Yossi Klein Halevi (4:41)

What you're describing, Donniel, is a textbook case of how not to galvanize the society to have a moral introspective conversation.

Donniel Hartman (5:03)

Hi, friends. This is Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi from the Shalom Hartman Institute. And this is our podcast, For Heaven's Sake, in collaboration with Archmedia. Today is Tuesday, September 15th. And our theme, which echoes the conversation of every single Israeli today.

The theme is Naza, when a film is the news.

For those of you who don't yet know what Naza is, go on any news site, whether social media news, Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post. It's bigger news in Israel and in Europe. It's not huge news in the United States. New York Times has a little article about it. But this is what Israelis are talking about. Naza stands for the Hebrew term Nezek Agave, which means collateral damage. It also, and again, I'm doing a little commentary right now. The name Naza also echoes Gaza and it echoes Nazi. But assuming that this is well thought through, it's a very powerful, emotive title. It's the news. We're in the midst of Saudi Arabia possibly imploding. Our election cycle, new polls have come out, which are presenting a continued shift to a stalemate. All there.