“So much is being done to…as to not look at reality,” Yuval Abraham said in Venice. His words provide a useful starting point for examining the public claims surrounding NAZA, the documentary he directed with Rachel Szor, which won the festival’s Special Jury Prize.

Looking at reality requires distinguishing what is documented, what is alleged and what remains unresolved. That applies to the film’s claims, the military’s responses and the wider account of the war. An award is not a verdict.

The film’s Venice synopsis describes “Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.” This is an allegation about intention and policy, not simply a statement that civilians have suffered, and indeed citizens do suffer in every conflict – that is the nature of conflicts and wars- but its accuracy........

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