The End of Reliable Journalism

 The directors of the film  "Naza" did not have to work too hard to discover the real truth, says Sarit Zehavi, a reserve officer in the IDF and head of the Alma Center. 'They could have simply interviewed me. I was one of the founders of the field within the IDF that deals with warning populations on the other side of enemy lines and preserving the lives of their civilians.'*

The filmmakers preferred to tell a story from a very narrow angle, to interview anonymous sources whose level of involvement, rank, and understanding of the process is unclear, and to completely ignore the experts who built these systems with one goal: preserving human life,' Zehavi says. 'There are such experts. I was one of them.'*

"Naza" (which Israelis haven't yet seen) raises serious, urgent questions about the actions of the Israeli army. Financed by The Guardian ( a well known advocate of anti Semitism and distorter of facts) and presented as a documentary, it also raises serious, urgent questions about the practice of journalism.

A little less than 20 years ago, says Sarit, I was one of the founders of the field within the IDF that deals with warning populations on the other side of enemy lines and preserving the lives of their civilians.

We built the work processes that define how to call upon the population to evacuate, and how to track that evacuation. I was personally involved in formulating the target approval processes and operational discussions.

If they had spoken with me, I would have explained to them that the chart shown at the beginning of the film is not a chart for conducting killings, but rather a planning chart for a target identified as being used by Hamas.

Its purpose is to determine whether to strike a target at all, who in the command echelon is authorized to approve it, with what munitions, and under what conditions.

 In stark contrast to what is stated in the film, when the words "Naza 500 – collateral damage estimated at 500" appear in the approval process, the meaning is that action must be taken to reduce the collateral damage.

The filmmakers preferred to tell a story from a very narrow angle, to interview anonymous sources whose level of involvement, rank, and understanding of the process is unclear, and to completely ignore the experts who built these systems with one goal: preserving human life.

This film was produced by two Israelis who are so far to the radical left of the political spectrum that even the leftist parties in the upcoming elections have not associated themselves with them.