The Blogs: An Evening in NYC with the Filmmakers of “NAZA: The Real Story”

Last night, I attended the screening of “NAZA: The Real Story” that was hosted by the Israel American Council at Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The acclaimed Film is a Fact Based response to the false narrative that was shamefully presented in the Film “NAZA”. The documentary NAZA (2026), directed by two self-hating and terror supporting leftists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, has sparked severe and intense backlash and criticism in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and culture ministers denounced the filmmakers as traitors, with Netanyahu threatening to revoke their citizenship with accusations of treason as well.

Directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor have faced widespread public condemnation and protests targeting their families’ homes in Israel and rightfully so. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) rejected the film’s portrayals, labeling the claims and automated targeting characterizations as manipulative and distorted. As a counterweight to the lies that were spread in “NAZA”, a disgraceful documentary that paints a false narrative, counter-efforts have been made to set the record straight including a response project titled “NAZA: The Real Story” that I had the honor of attending last night.

NAZA: The Real Story is a 49-minute Israeli counter-documentary released in October 2026. It was created by Ariel Averbuch, Lt. Col. (res.) Roi Danino, and Hagai Gutman to directly discredit and rebut the controversial film NAZA. The creators, who described the film as an “offensive move” to defend Israel’s military reputation, released the documentary rapidly to shape the global narrative. It gained significant traction, including formal backing from the Israeli government and a public diplomacy award.

At the beginning of the evening before the screening, I asked Filmmakers Ariel Averbuch and Roi Danino what they feel is the underlying root that would entice two Israeli Nationals (Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor) to spread such lies against their own Nation, against valiant IDF soldiers who put their lives on the line on a daily basis? Isn’t it enough that we have BDS and Terror supporters across the globe and yet now we have to deal with those who were supposedly amongst us that try to put the Nation of Israel in danger by disseminating lies? They answered “We have always had these types amongst us from the time of Moses and Korach, during the time of the second Temple and until now. In the end though, the truth prevails and we always won. Am Yisrael Chai.”

Ariel Averbuch is an Israeli patent attorney, IDF army reservist (Reserve Major), and nationalist social media influencer. Roi Danino is a Lieutenant Colonel in the IDF reserves and a political candidate for the right-wing Israel First party. Last but not least, Hagai Gutman is a film director and editor who put the project together in just 12 days using raw footage and testimonies. The documentary positions itself as an explicit rebuttal to the original and false narrative of the NAZA film, which featured 24 anonymous IDF “whistleblowers”falsely alleging that Israel systematically permitted high civilian tolls in its Gaza airstrikes. This narrative could not be farther from the truth as the IDF is the most moral Army in the world and has gone through great lengths to ensure minimum civilian casualties even putting the lives of soldiers at risk in densely populated areas.

In contrast to the lies that are being spread in “NAZA”, “NAZA: The Real Story” mimics the original film’s visual style—such as nighttime rooftop interviews but fills it with counter-testimonies from IDF officers speaking the truth about what happened during the War in Gaza. It focuses heavily on Defending IDF Morality, arguing that the Israeli military takes extensive, unparalleled precautions to avoid civilian casualties, and Hamas Tactics, utilizing declassified IDF recordings, captured intelligence, and combat footage to show how Hamas operates from within civilian infrastructure to intentionally maximize civilian casualties.

“NAZA: The Real Story” has received Official Recognition, in which the head of Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate, Tzipi Hotovely, presented Averbuch, Danino, and Gutman with a Certificate of Recognition, praising the film for defending the state against “blood libels and lies”. The documentary was also heavily promoted online by the Israeli Embassy to the U.S. In addition to this great recognition, the film’s official website states that the counter-documentary has achieved over 42 million views. In tandem with international film festival screenings of the original false documentary NAZA, organizations like the Israeli American Council (IAC) have hosted counter-screenings of The Real Story in major cities, including Manhattan, to ensure audiences see both perspectives.

At the end of the evening and after the screening, both Ariel Averbuch and Roi Danino took part in a Question and Answer session with Israel advocate and Influencer Lizzy Savetsky. Lizzy asked, “What was the motivation behind making this Film and how did you get it done in a week and a half?” “Ariel Averbuch thanked everyone for coming to the screening and for showing so much love and stated,”This was just an idea two and a half weeks ago and it’s unbelievable. The most common question that we receive is regarding the speed of production of this Film and my answer is always the same. The truth doesn’t take a lot of time, we don’t need a script anything. We didn’t need to stop filming our soldiers’ testimonies, we didn’t say to them, ‘You said this or that the wrong way and be more emotional.’ This was just the truth and that’s what it is. You see the truth in your face, we just recorded it and worked around the clock in order to edit it and get it approved by the Army. It usually takes a lot of time to get it approved but we were able to get it done in 24 hours. We were able to publish it and here we are 42 Million views later.”

Lizzy went on to convey that there are two battlegrounds, there’s the War on the Ground and the information War in social Media and the Press. She went on to say that some may try to falsely infer that this is Government propaganda, to which Roi replied in one word, “No. The Israeli Government did not help us or support us. If anything, we produced and made this Film with our own money. Hagai stayed in Israel to produce chapter 2 and we did this on our own.” Ariel added that “The Guardian recently tried to imply that we were being assisted by the Government and that it was IDF propaganda which is not true and to the contrary. Not only did we not get any funding, we paid for this trip out of our own pockets.” As the evening came to a close, I personally thanked Roi Danino and Ariel Averbuch for taking such a bold stance and defending the Nation of Israel and for creating this Documentary that tells the true Narrative of the IDF, the most moral Army in the World.