The website for a film that defends Israel’s military against accusations made in the “NAZA” documentary was targeted by “radical Islamist groups” this week that tried to prevent the public from watching the film, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) confirmed early Wednesday morning.

The 49-minute documentary “NAZA: The Real Story” features first-hand testimonies from senior commanders in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and intelligence officers who ran operations and fought in the Gaza Strip against Hamas terrorists who orchestrated the deadly attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Released in September, the documentary was created by three Israelis, including IDF reservist officers, and is available to watch for free online on its website. It has already been viewed more than 43 million times, according to the site. The film made its US premiere on Monday night in New York City.

The MFA wrote in a post on X that extremist Islamist groups launched a coordinated attack against the film but failed in their efforts to bury the documentary and prevent viewers from watching it. The film was attacked by thousands of anti-Zionist bots and social media users, and its website was falsely reported as dangerous.

“This morning, the Israeli documentary production was temporarily taken offline following a coordinated campaign by radical Islamist groups. Apparently, exposing what happened in Gaza and backing it up with evidence was a little too inconvenient,” said the MFA. “Unfortunately for them, the film is now back online. Join the millions who’ve already watched.”

In “NAZA: The Real Story,” senior IDF officials, who are identified, defend Israel’s military actions in Gaza by discussing how Hamas operates in civilian areas, how the IDF acts to prevent harm to civilians, rules of engagement, the hostage situation, and the handling of aid trucks, among other topics. The documentary was made in direct response to the award-winning documentary “NAZA,” in which anonymous Israeli sources accuse the IDF of deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. The original “NAZA” was directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, and produced with The Guardian.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the country’s attorney general and the head of the Shin Bet security service to launch an investigation that will reveal the identities of the IDF sources interviewed in “NAZA,” and prosecute them for “serious information security offenses, criminal defamation, and harm to Israel’s political and security interests.”

“The film presents a false, misleading, and biased plot that defames the State of Israel and the IDF in the world and severely damages Israel’s standing,” Netanyahu said. “We will always stand with our beloved and heroic fighters!”

The first US screening of “NAZA: The Real Story” took place on Monday night in New York City and was led by the Israeli-American Council (IAC), which is the largest Israeli-American community organization in the country. Following the screening, the film’s two co-creators — Roi Danino, an IDF reserve lieutenant colonel, and Ariel Averbuch, an IDF reserve major — talked about their personal experiences during the Israel-Hamas war that started after the massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, and answered questions from the audience. Averbuch described the persuasion techniques used in “NAZA” to convince audiences and make Israel look like the enemy.

“I sat and watched it, and I can tell you honestly — if I had not known the truth, I would have left that screening 100 percent convinced that the Jews, the Israelis, and the IDF are Nazis in the fullest sense of the word,” he admitted. “And the most important thing to understand is that ‘NAZA’ has not yet been released to the general public – it is expected to have its public release in early November, and we estimate that tens of millions of people will watch it. That is exactly why ‘NAZA: The Real Story’ is a tool for all of us, because what is coming is a tsunami of blood libels, and we must be prepared to dismantle it.”

The IAC organized a protest outside the North American premiere of “NAZA” in late September. Trucks mounted with LED screens parked outside Manhattan’s Lincoln Center, where the screening took place, showed raw footage from the Oct. 7 attack captured by Hamas terrorists themselves and IDF soldiers, along with materials that discredit the film’s claims. The IAC has since organized similar protests at “NAZA” screenings in the Hamptons, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Massachusetts. The pro-Israel organization said its protests do not aim to prevent the film from being shown, but rather they urge audiences to learn all the facts about what transpired during the Oct. 7 attack and its aftermath, especially the context and details disregarded in the “NAZA” film.

“There is a dangerous moment in the life of a lie – the moment when people stop asking whether it is true,” Noa Peri-Jensch, IAC’s chief communities officer, said at Monday’s screening of “NAZA: The Real Story.”

“For centuries, Jews were accused of murdering children for their blood – an accusation that did not need to be true, only to be believed. During the Holocaust, reports of the persecution and murder of Jews reached the American press, yet knowledge still did not turn into action,” Peri-Jensch added. “History teaches us what happens when a lie goes unanswered. Today, lies move faster than ever – an edited clip, a missing fact, an accusation repeated until it sounds like proof. The demonization of Israel surrounding ‘NAZA’ echoes that very same pattern, and we will not let it go unanswered.”