It is too early to tell whether Qatar helped finance the documentary film NAZA (Collateral Damage), directly or indirectly. The film won the Special Jury Prize—the third-place award—at the Venice Film Festival and received 25 minutes of applause, but it has yet to be officially released, and not all the information about it has been made public. Past cases, however, show that many foundations hostile to Israel and filmmakers seeking to defame it frequently receive Qatari funding. Money is only one part of Doha’s effort to promote anti-Israel messages through ostensibly cultural activities. Qatari media also lends support to blood libels presented within a cultural framing. Qatari money is not necessarily the main element in this interplay, but it serves as a force multiplier under the cover of art.

The enormous publicity the film has attracted has drawn attention in Israel to the worldwide campaign to delegitimize IDF operations, especially in Western cultural centers. The entertainment industry, in all its shades, is a battleground where Israel is forced to defend itself against hostile public opinion and blood libels and half-truths that damage its international standing.

The spread of these hostile narratives has coincided with the spread of lies about Israel on social media and in international academic forums. International civil society organizations have joined forces to defame Israel and obstruct its operations against terrorist organizations.

As awareness has grown in Israel and among its supporters worldwide, Qatar has repeatedly been identified as a source of funding for organizations engaged in incitement and as a conduit for false propaganda, which Doha distributes through its various media outlets, above all the media giant Al Jazeera, whose myriad tentacles include social media platforms and think tanks.

One example of how Qatar uses cultural funding against Israel is its cooperation with UN agencies at art galleries in Doha to oppose attacks on education, while accusing Jerusalem of doing exactly that. Other Doha galleries have displayed installations inspired by the works of former terrorist Ghassan Kanafani. Similarly, books praising Palestinian terrorists have been sold at the Doha Book Fair. In January 2026, South African Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie accused Qatar of launching a political influence operation and funding anti-Israel content at the South African pavilion of the Venice Art Biennale.

According to one report, screenwriter Mira Nair, the mother of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, received money from the emir of Qatar’s sister, Sheikha Al Mayassa Al Thani. The stated purpose was to support Nair’s filmmaking projects, but the payments were apparently part of the financial and media backing for Mamdani’s campaign. The report illustrates the di‏ןrect ties between Qatari money, campaigns to delegitimize Israel, influence in the cultural world, and influence in certain centers of power.

This pattern calls for an investigation into whether NAZA is another product of a well-oiled operation. We need to trace the connections behind this incitement project, identify the links that are open to outside scrutiny, and determine whether Qatari money is involved, directly or indirectly.

James Wilson, one of the producers of NAZA, has produced a series of other films with tendentious anti-Israel content. Jonathan Glazer was the executive producer for the film. The two also worked together on The Voice of Hind Rajab, another film intended to defame Israel. Last year, that film won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize—the second-place award—at the Venice Film Festival and received more than 20 minutes of applause. Qatar provided funding and institutional support. The film also received pride of place at screenings at the Doha Film Institute, which operates under its chair, Sheikha Al Mayassa Al Thani. It was, for example, the opening film at the Doha Film Festival in November 2025.

For nearly a decade, the Doha Film Institute has financed films submitted to the Venice Film Festival. These films generally reflect narratives hostile to Israel, sometimes explicitly and sometimes in the underlying messages. The Voice of Hind Rajab received funding from several sources, including contributions from Tunisia’s Ministry of Culture and a development grant from the Doha Film Institute. The film’s producers included Nadim Cheikhrouha, Kaouther Ben Hania, and Jonathan Glazer. Speaking at the institute, Cheikhrouha said, “Some global names joined as executive producers not for funding, and they amplified the film’s reach.” His statement illustrated the moral support that the Qatari foundation and other companies gave the film about Hind Rajab alongside their financial backing. Ben Hania was also one of the jurors who awarded NAZAthe Grand Jury Prize.

Tunisia’s Ministry of Culture was involved in The Voice of Hind Rajab, whose two production companies had Tunisian ties: Mime Films is Tunisian, and Tanit Films is owned by a French-Tunisian producer. Qatar, too, has been involved in several Tunisian films produced with these companies in recent years. This connection enabled Qatar to build ties with film industries and support their efforts to release anti-Israel films.

Venice’s cultural scene, and particularly the Biennale, has drawn substantial Qatari investment. Qatar Museums has organized events with galleries in the city, including ACP Palazzo Franchetti in 2024. Sheikha Al Mayassa stressed the importance of holding that event alongside the Biennale. At the 2026 Biennale, she officially promoted an exhibition about Gaza. Its installations were intended, among other things, to depict Gaza’s suffering and defame Israel.

The Doha Film Institute likewise highlighted its involvement in the Venice Film Festival at which NAZA won the third-place prize, emphasizing the many projects there that it had helped finance. Other works also promoted anti-Israel narratives, including Conversation with the Sea by Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan. The film follows a Palestinian man whom an Israeli court orders to pay a National Insurance debt connected to his son, who drowned at sea more than two decades earlier.

The effort to delegitimize Israel is integral to Qatar’s practice of investing in cultural and artistic projects to promote anti-Western narratives under the guise of art. This approach has established Doha as a legitimate patron of the arts while whitewashing Qatar’s reputation in Europe.