The language of extermination: NAZA, Artificial Intelligence and Gaza

The 80-minute documentary NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, is chastening.  It examines the conduct of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) during its ferocious, unremitting war in Gaza, drawing upon the interviews of 24 anonymised military and intelligence personnel.  The interviews were filmed on Tel Aviv rooftops at night, with profiles and voices appropriately altered.  The name of the documentary draws on a Hebrew acronym for nezek agavi or collateral damage, an obscene term used when counting the estimated number of civilians who will perish in a military strike.  Last month, the film won the Special Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, receiving a standing ovation lasting 25 minutes. The interviewees focus on the terrifyingly […]