The film caused controversy when first screened in Paris and right-wing demonstrators threw tear gas bombs into two cinemas showing the film.
"Tsahal" is the abbreviated form of Tsva HaHagana LeYisrael (the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF). An alternative English spelling is "Tzahal".
During the five hours of this study of the Israeli army, there is not a single frame showing any of the six wars those forces had been engaged in by the time the film was made,nor even from any of their internal missions.