Why is the documentary ‘NAZA’ causing a political storm? Here are 5 things to know.

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(RNS) — A documentary about the war in Gaza, “NAZA,” opens in New York City on Wednesday (Sept. 30) and expands to other U.S. cities on Oct. 9. It got a historic 25-minute standing ovation and won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month but has been pilloried by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many other Israelis.

Why is the film, written and directed by  Yuval Abraham  and  Rachel Szor, sparking such a political storm? Here are five things to know.

NAZA is a euphemism for collateral damage. Technically, it’s a Hebrew acronym the Israeli military uses for collateral damage, “nezek agavi.” The documentary consists of testimony from 24 Israeli military officers and soldiers, their faces obscured, who describe in detail the military’s cyber targeting systems behind Israel’s mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

These officers and soldiers use the military shorthand “NAZA” to describe the projected casualties from any particular aerial strike on Gaza.

In the early days of the war — prompted by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of…