AI Summary
5 min readIn the documentary Nazza, Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Jor go to a series of Tel Aviv rooftops at night and interview 24 anonymous Israeli intelligence agents and soldiers about the systems they used to destroy homes and buildings in Gaza. The title refers to a military term for collateral damage: a bombing with “four nazza” means four non-target people were killed. Interviewees mention figures of five, ten, twenty, and even 200 nazza. One soldier, who visited Poland as a youth to learn about the Holocaust, says, “I still think the Nazis are pure evil. What does that make me?” Another agrees the campaign is a genocide. The film cuts between these shadowy interviews and calm shots of Tel Aviv—where the Israeli military is also headquartered—and obliterated Gaza, implicitly questioning the “human shield” justification. The filmmakers have said they are using their privilege as Israelis to draw global attention to reporting that already existed in outlets like The Guardian and +972 Magazine, because Palestinian journalists cannot do this work without risk of arrest or death.
The government and public reaction in Israel
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:02) **Episode Introduction: The Gaza Documentary "No Other Land"** - Host Noel King introduces the core tension of the episode: the cycle of boycotts, retribution, and resignation surrounding artists who speak about Israel and Gaza.
- 2 (02:12) **Describing the Documentary "No Other Land"** - Bill Gurry of New York Magazine explains the film's content, which features anonymous Israeli intelligence agents confessing to atrocities in Gaza.
- 3 (05:15) **Why the Film is "One of the Most Important of Our Time"** - Gurry explains the film's unique power lies not in new reporting, but in using the filmmakers' Israeli privilege to force global attention on known atrocities.
- 4 (07:20) **The Reaction Inside Israel** - Haaretz journalist Shani Littman describes the domestic controversy, noting most Israelis haven't seen the film but are aware of its contents.
- 5 (10:13) **Official Government Response and Personal Threats** - Littman details the extreme reaction from the Israeli government and the resulting danger for the filmmakers.
- 6 (13:00) **Transition to the Broader Boycott Landscape** - The episode pivots from the specific case of the documentary to the wider phenomenon of boycotts of art and artists related to Israel and Palestine.
- 7 (16:24) **The Macklemore/Ed Sheeran Boycott Spiral** - Rosenfeld explains how the pressure from Robert Kraft on Ed Sheeran to drop Macklemore led to other artists boycotting Sheeran's tour.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
It's not just Macklemore. A new documentary on atrocities in Gaza has enraged the Israeli government... and some pro-Palestinian activists.
This episode was produced by Ariana Aspuru, edited by Jolie Myers, fact checked by Kelli Wessinger, engineered by Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Noel King.
A 'Boycott Israel' banner is seen at a solidarity demonstration with Palestinian political prisoners in Krakow, Poland on April 17, 2026. Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
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