The International Press Institute (IPI) has joined 10 other press freedom organisations in pressing Israeli authorities to safeguard investigative journalists and filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, after senior officials threatened to strip the citizenship of Israelis who criticise soldiers abroad and named the pair’s documentary NAZA.
The joint letter follows days of increasingly hostile rhetoric aimed at the filmmakers, their families, and the outlets that publish their work. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on September 16 that his government would seek legislation to revoke the citizenship of Israelis who “defame” Israeli soldiers abroad, citing NAZA and its filmmakers. The film, produced by The Guardian, won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month.
IPI and its partners ask Israeli authorities to end the official campaign against the two and to shield them and their families from the violence the letter says government rhetoric has unleashed. Journalists must be free to scrutinise the military, government officials, and other powerful institutions. The letter places the case within a wider pattern of attacks on journalists by Israeli authorities and security forces.