The two Israeli directors of the documentary NAZA, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, spoke after the screening of their film at the New York Film Festival on Saturday. They focused on Israel’s AI-powered system of targeting suspected Hamas militants. In the Q & A period Szor told the audience, “Our country is doing so much to hide these systems. It’s not a world that is open even to the Israeli public.” Abraham said, “These crimes that you saw are ongoing. They’re ongoing because it’s what our country is doing, and because of what your country is supporting and funding,” as reported in The Guardian.

Abraham spoke of his fellow Israelis who claim that his film down-played the bloodshed in the Hamas attacks of October 7 which killed 1,200 Israeli civilians. Abraham said, “It’s in the film and it’s completely unjustified. But it also cannot justify what you’ve seen in the film. It doesn’t justify the slaughter of so many civilians in Gaza.” Abraham added, “I don’t want to live in a world where rightful empathy to Israeli victims is weaponized by leaders like Netanyahu—cynical people who promise nothing other than perpetual occupation and war. It’s weaponized to mean a lack of empathy to Palestinians, to mean this continuous killing and murder of people. I don’t think we should want to live in such a world. I think we should all refuse to play this zero-sum game.”