IDF chief orders legal review and leak probe over 'NAZA' documentary

Israel's Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, convened senior commanders on Monday for a consultation on the documentary film "NAZA", and instructed the military's chief legal officer to look at possible legal steps against the film and those involved in making it. According to the IDF spokesperson's office, the meeting included Deputy Chief of the General Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, Head of the Operations Directorate Maj. Gen. Itzik Cohen, Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir, Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Omer Tishler, the commander of Unit 8200, and IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin.

Zamir separately ordered an examination of how classified material used in the film's production reached its makers. The Times of Israel reported that the documentary contains allegations that Israel ordered artificial intelligence assisted attacks in the Gaza Strip that caused civilian deaths, and that the military has rejected the claims while stating it has not yet watched the full film, having seen only excerpts and a promotional clip released publicly. The IDF has asked for a screening so that it can respond to the allegations in their entirety.

What Zamir said

In remarks distributed after the consultation, the chief of staff described the film in unusually direct terms. "This is a move against the State of Israel, not only against the IDF," he said, adding that it "adopts the narratives of Israel's haters". He said that, based on what had been published so far, the film was not a work of criticism or an attempt to establish the truth, but rested on "blood libels", a deliberate distortion of reality and false accusations against Israeli soldiers and commanders. He said the effort sought to strip Israel of the legitimacy to defend itself and thereby endangered troops in practice.

The phrase "blood libel" carries specific weight in Jewish usage. It refers to the medieval accusation that Jews murdered Christians for ritual purposes, a charge that preceded pogroms across Europe, and it is invoked in modern Israeli political speech to describe allegations the speaker regards as both false and malicious rather than merely mistaken.

The steps ordered

N12 reported that Zamir directed a series of measures: the establishment of a multi organisational and multi disciplinary team, headed by the chief of the Planning Directorate, to counter what the military calls false claims against the IDF and its soldiers; the review of possible legal action against the film and those involved; an examination of information security aspects and of who may have been involved in leaking classified materials; and the formulation of a broad domestic and international public diplomacy effort together with the Foreign Ministry, the Justice Ministry and the national public diplomacy apparatus.

N12 also reported that Zamir told the meeting the IDF operates in accordance with international law and its own code of ethics, and that it leads efforts to reduce harm to uninvolved civilians, with what he described as a significantly lower ratio of civilian to combatant casualties than other militaries.

Who is involved

The Military Advocate General, known in Hebrew by the acronym PATZAR, is the head of the IDF's legal system and is responsible both for advising commanders on the law of armed conflict and for military prosecutions. Unit 8200 is the Israeli military's signals intelligence and cyber formation, whose commander is identified publicly only by an initial. Ynet reported that Zamir instructed the Military Advocate General to examine and advance legal measures in relation to the film and those connected to it.

Israel Hayom described the response as a leak investigation alongside a weighing of legal avenues against the film's creators.

What the reports do not say

The material does not identify the film's director, production company, distributor or intended release platform, nor does it say where or when it is to be shown. It does not specify what legal action might be available or under which law, whether criminal, civil or administrative, and no case has been opened on the basis of these reports.

The reports do not name any suspect in the leak inquiry, nor do they describe what classified materials are said to have been used. The Times of Israel liveblog and the military correspondent Emanuel Fabian both note testimonies from purported Israeli intelligence personnel, but the accounts available here are truncated and the number and identity of those speakers cannot be stated with confidence. The film's makers had not responded in any of the material reviewed, and no independent verification of the documentary's claims, or of the military's rejection of them, is available.