End the Campaign of Threats Against NAZA Directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor

IDA calls on the Israeli government to withdraw its threats against filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. We also call for an end to the public campaign of intimidation against them.

Since NAZA won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, senior Israeli officials have moved against its directors. The Culture Minister has accused them of treason and sought to revoke their citizenship. The Prime Minister has announced bills to revoke the citizenship of anyone who "slanders IDF soldiers" and to raise defamation damages twentyfold.

This official rhetoric has been accompanied by a public campaign against the filmmakers. Graffiti branding them "traitors" has appeared, and protesters have gathered outside the home of Szor's parents. Israeli filmmakers and human rights groups have warned that it could lead to violence. Disagreement with a film must not become a threat to the people who made it.

The Israeli military disputes the film's account, and it is entitled to do so. But as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Israel is bound by Article 19, under which restrictions on expression must be provided by law and be necessary and proportionate to a legitimate aim. Revoking citizenship, imposing punitive damages, or opening security investigations in response to a documentary does not meet that test. The UN Human Rights Committee recognizes the protection of journalistic sources as part of freedom of expression, and the filmmakers' right not to disclose the identities of their sources must be upheld.            

The Israel Film Council has also proposed ending credit for international festival selection in public film funding and creating a dedicated funding track for films celebrating IDF soldiers.

Threats of this kind are a risk documentary makers face in the course of their work. More than 1,500 Israeli film professionals, 43 Israeli human rights organizations, and the directors of major international festivals have defended Abraham and Szor.

IDA calls on the Government of Israel to:

• withdraw the threats to revoke Abraham's and Szor's citizenship, and abandon the proposed legislation;
• respect the filmmakers’ journalistic right to refuse to disclose the identities of confidential sources
• reject changes to public film funding that penalize filmmakers for critical work or international recognition.

We also call on everyone taking part in the public debate to reject the intimidation of the filmmakers and their families.

We stand with Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. IDA is ready to support them through our Emergency Assistance Program, as we support other documentarians facing threats for their work.

If you support this statement, you can add your name as a signatory by completing THIS FORM. Please review the letter before signing and provide your information so that we can accurately identify signatories and, where applicable, publish their names and affiliations.

SIGNATORIES

Joslyn Barnes
Julia Bacha, Documentary Branch member, AMPAS
Mark Ruffalo
Marjan Safinia, AMPAS (Documentary Branch)
Alice Henty, AMPAS
David France, AMPAS Documentary Branch
Raoul Peck
Alex Gibney
Brett Story, AMPAS
Catherine Gund, AMPAS
Joel Simon, IDA board member
Mirra Bank, AMPAS
Rob Epstein, AMPAS, DGA, IDA member
Kirby Dick
Abby Ginzberg, Documentary Branch, AMPAS
NINA MENKES, AMPAS- DIRECTORS BRANCH
Dan Cogan
Kirsten Johnson
Laura Poitras, AMPAS, DGA, BAFTA
Ina Fichman, AMPAS, President IDA BOD
Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Black Valley Films
Susan Lacy, Pentimento productions
Amelia Hapsari, AMPAS - Documentary Branch
Alison Klayman
Kristi Jacobson, AMPAS
Jeff Reichert, AMPAS
Michèle Stephenson, AMPAS
Connie Field, AMPAS Doc Branch
Gini Reticker, AMPAS
Tia Lessin, AMPAS member
Nazrin Choudhury, AMPAS & BAFTA
Loira Limbal
Carl Deal, AMPAS, WGA, DGA
deborah m. dickson, AMPAS
Stevie Wang Breal, AMPAS, WGA
Jennifer Tiexiera, AMPAS, IDA Board Member
Vanessa Hope, Double Hope Films
Lior Shamriz
Ted Hope
Amy Ziering, AMPAS
Sonya Childress, Color Congress, AMPAS
Sahar Driver, Color Congress
Orlando von Einsiedel, AMPAS
Sushmit Ghosh, AMPAS Doc Branch
Marcia Jarmel
Sarah Mowaswes
Ry Levey
Miriam Cutler, IDA, Motion Picture Academy Documentary Branch
Amarsanaa Battulga
Marilyn Agrelo
Jeff Deutchman
Cynthia Kane
Kellen Quinn, AMPAS
SANJIB DAS
Sebastien Rabas
Javier bardem
David Leith Fraser
Roger Weisberg, Public Policy Productions, Inc.
Zoe Stricker
Sarah Burns
Gala Hernández López
Miguel Hilari
Rémi Grellety, AMPAS Doc Branch, IDA, European Film Academy
Jeanette Lloyd
Maria Rocha
Gabriel Rhodes, AMPAS
Anna Briggs
Jerry Risius, Filmmaker/Cinematographer
Marcia Rock, IDA
Charlie Phillips, Documentary Association of Europe
Alan Weeks
Sherry Milner, CUNY
Ellen Tolmie
Roger Ross Williams
Lisa Valencia-Svensson, AMPAS Documentary Branch
Jessica, Hankey, Associated Fellow, Harvard Film Study Center
Christopher Hird, Dartmouth Films
Dan Lindsay
Kaveh Farnam
Anne Köhncke, AMPAS
Arwen Curry, Filmmaker
Caryn Capotosto, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Documentary Branch
Bec Evans
Doug Block, The D-Word
Stephanie Lowry, AMPAS
Tom Hurwitz, ASC, ASC, AAMPAS
Rui Pires
Hilary E Davis
Pete Levine
Dan Sadowsky, IDA
Deborah Kalin, SisterLightning
Christine Turner, AMPAS
Ilana Bar-Din Giannini, LCSW
Anna Dorris
Eurie Chung
Darianna Cardilli, International Documentary Association
Alan Swyer, Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America
Judy Branfman
Judy Hoffman, Kartemquin Films
Daniel Malek
Gordon Quinn, Kartemquin Films
Sandy Greer, Filmmaker/Writer
Beadie Finzi, AMPAS
Deia Schlosberg, Pale Blue Dot Media
Deborah Kaufman, Snitow-Kaufman Productions
Jeff Werner
Markie Hancock
Kate Taverna, AMPAS
Linda Blackaby
Lauren Kushner
Julia Pacetti, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
Rodney Evans, Filmmaker
Alan Snitow, Snitow-Kaufman Productions
Natasha Dack Ojumu, AMPAS, BAFTA
Adrián Gutiérrez
Don Edkins, AMPAS Documentary Branch
Lyn Goldfarb, Academy Award-nominated Documentary filmmaker
Catherine L. Benamou, UC Irvine
Catherine Ryan
Asad Muhammad
Joe Berlinger , AMPAS, ATAS, DGA, WGA, PGA, BAFTA, NBR
Harold Crooks
Guy Davidi
Smriti Mundhra, Member, Documentary Branch, AMPAS
Lisa Leeman, AMPAS (documentary branch); IDA; DPA
David Zeiger, Displaced Films
Lindsey Dryden
Donald Young
Eva Zhang, USC
Callum Dodsley
Carlos Monterrey
Scooter McCrae
Brian Reilly
Faye Ellman
Jeffrey Friedman, AMPAS, DGA
Marc Levin
Ezra Edelman
Dan Edelstyn, Optimistic Productions Ltd
Betsy Carson, Face to Face Media Ltd
Judith Ehrlich, AMPAS (Documentary Branch)
joan churchill, AMPAS
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, AMPAS Documentary branch
Marian Levy
Stephen Sarsfield
Ximena Amescua, Firelight Media
Michael Ehrenzweig
Megan Durnford, Megan Durnford Productions
Diana Kushner, Independent film director
Gerry Potter, Red Heeler Media/DOC member
Karen S. Shapiro, bdks productions