Recently, we watched the award-winning documentary NAZA. In it 24 Israeli soldiers whose appearances and voices are altered, talk candidly to an interviewer. They describe how at their keyboards they use high tech surveillance tools enabled by AI to provide coordinates used to target individual Palestinians in Gaza.
The aircraft or missile attacks are on homes, usually at night because that is when families gather. NAZA is a term which translates to “collateral damage.” It is the projected a body count of others likely to be killed when a suspect is taken out – spouses, children, grandparents, anyone in the house.
Network of state surveillance
The minutely detailed information assembled on targeted residents is scraped by AI from a multitude of digital sources. The interviewees casually describe a complex network of state surveillance that turns cellphones against their owners, allowing these electronic stalkers to eavesdrop on their victims, and even to see them, before, during, and after the deadly attacks occur.
David Shulman on furious Israeli reaction
David Shulman, a frequent contributor to The New York Review, writes about the furious reaction to the documentary by Israeli politicians, media, and military leaders. Shulman is professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also a longtime activist with the Arab–Jewish Partnership, in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Most of his article in NYRB is behind a paywall, but what is available here provides a taste of how this chilling documentary is being received.
Critics’ praise for NAZA
“Tough to watch, impossible to ignore” – The Guardian
Free access in The Guardian
The Guardian will provide free access to NAZA on its website beginning in December 2026.
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