The award ceremony was held at the world's oldest cinema festival, which started on September 2, on the Lido Island of the city of Venice.
The documentary "NAZA", prepared by the British newspaper The Guardian and directed by Oscar winners Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, which received a 25-minute standing ovation during its screening at the festival, was deemed worthy of the "Special Jury Prize".
Israeli directors Abraham and Szor, who came on stage to receive the award, thanked them for the award.
Abraham, one of the directors, who received a long standing ovation from the audience who watched the ceremony from the hall, said, "We thank the jury. We are both really grateful to be here." he said.
Stating that there is a smear campaign against his films in Israel and that a lot has been done to prevent the truth from being seen, Abraham said, "The truth is that in just 10 days since the start of this festival, Israel killed at least 6 Palestinian children in Gaza. One of them was a 3-year-old girl, the other was 7 years old and was killed in the car with her father, while her two sisters were sleeping at home." he said.
"The Israeli intelligence officers we spoke to told us that this massacre was not accidental, but systematic, based on a conscious design, acts of murder and policies based on the complete demonization of Palestinians," Abraham said. he said.
Pointing out that what happened was documented and that they owe it to Palestinian journalists, Abraham said, "I want to state this very clearly; these facts were documented and known from the very first day. We owe this to Palestinian journalists. More than 200 journalists were killed by Israel in Gaza. They were silenced. We believe that the denial of a crime paves the way for that crime to continue." he said.
Emphasizing that it is very important for his films to be watched, Abraham continued his words as follows:
"It is our country that committed these crimes, and we want the Europeans to watch the movie. Especially here in Italy. Because your government and the German government are preventing the pressure on Israel from being put that could end this situation. We also want Americans to watch the movie, because the country that finances most of the murders is the USA. Thank you."
"NAZA" is the abbreviation used by the Israeli military for "predicted civilian deaths"
The film's title, "NAZA," refers to the acronym used by the Israeli military for "civilians who are predicted to die in an attack," including men, women, and children.
In the documentary, different interview methods were followed for the safety of the participants.
The documentary was secretly shot on rooftops in Tel Aviv for 3 years, and the identities, voices and appearance of the participants were hidden by digital alterations. In the documentary, participants explained details about the "secret system" and secret methods used by the Israeli army in Gaza.
People in the production describe in detail the surveillance systems and long-range bombing used in the Israeli army's attacks. According to them, in this operation, artificial intelligence is used to identify potential Hamas targets and bomb houses and apartments, often knowing that there are families inside.
Members of the Israeli army, who directly witnessed the deliberate burning of settlements used by Gazans as shelters and the killings during food distribution, also took part in the documentary.
It was stated that some of those speaking in the documentary worked in the secret intelligence unit and reported directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
