Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar wrote Thursday to cinema managers across Israel asking them not to allow screenings of the anti-Israel documentary NAZA in their halls. In the letter, Zohar claimed the film presents serious falsehoods against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers, and called on managers to prevent its screening in any format.
The minister's request covers both paid and free screenings. Zohar also asked managers not to rent out their halls or make them available to outside parties for the purpose of showing the film, writing that they should "not allow the screening in any way."
According to Zohar, the IDF has rejected the claims attributed to it in the film and defined them as false and based on anonymous sources that cannot be verified. The minister further claimed that the film presents to the international arena accusations attributing to Israel the deliberate killing of civilians, which he called "completely false."
In his letter, Zohar tied his request to the approaching third anniversary of the October 7 massacre. He wrote that Israel and its citizens are still fighting for their security against enemies seeking to harm them both on the battlefield and by attacking Israel's legitimacy to defend itself, and that IDF soldiers and commanders stand on the front lines defending the country's citizens.
Against this background, the minister wrote that cultural institutions bear "a special public responsibility not to provide a platform for spreading claims that harm our soldiers and our country."
Zohar went on to address freedom of creation and expression: "Freedom of creation and freedom of expression are important values in Israeli society, but they do not mean that every cultural institution is obligated to provide its platform to every work," he wrote. He added that this is especially true when dealing with what he called a lie intended to damage Israel's good name in the world.
He closed the letter with an explicit request: "I ask you to show public responsibility and not allow the screening of the film in your halls, in any format whatsoever."
