– Actor on the warpath
The Netflix series has always been considered frighteningly realistic. Several actors have indeed gone to war in the Gaza Strip.
Published: January 11, 2024, 6.45pm
Patriotism and propaganda: Israeli actor Idan Amedi (m.) with his unit.
Photo: PD
A few days ago, six Israeli soldiers were killed in the center of the Gaza Strip when a military vehicle carrying explosives exploded near them. Idan Amedi, another soldier in the unit, was seriously injured. The 35-year-old is now on everyone’s lips because his full-time job is not that of a soldier, but that of a musician and actor. In the Netflix series “Fauda” – an international hit – he plays Sagi Tzur, a newcomer to an elite Israeli counter-terrorism unit.
The Israeli thriller series, which entered its fourth season a year ago, has always been a fascinating mix of fiction and reality. Amedi’s misfortune is now the mysterious culmination of this interrelationship.
“Fauda” means “chaos” in Arabic, the term is also used to describe conditions in the Palestinian areas of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In the series, Israeli agents use it as a code word to abort a failed mission. But it applies above all to the violence and confusion that the conflict in the Middle East has caused for decades in the minds and hearts of enemy peoples.
Amedi in uniform – for the Netflix series “Fauda”.
Photo: PD
In this context, the series introduces viewers to Israel’s fight against terrorism, from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip to Europe. “Fauda” talks about the real special unit Mista’arvim, whose members mix with the Arab population: perfectly bilingual soldiers who free hostages, carry out kidnappings and even murders. They are not smart, smooth-cheeked double zero agents, but chain-smoking, sweaty, unshaven guys. In the chaos of Ramallah and Gaza there is no time for cool sayings and other fictitious behavior.
The series was celebrated by left-wing and right-wing Israeli newspapers and even classified as a political event. “Fauda” is not an entertainment show, but it shows the naked truth. What this looks like is, of course, controversial: it is also a parallel to the current debate over the war in Israel. “Fauda,” critics of the series say, is ideological and trivializes the plight of Palestinians, while the ruthless actions of Israeli security forces are romanticized as the daily lives of the officers.
On the other hand, “Fauda” does something that was new in Israeli television entertainment. The series delves into the culture of the enemy, the agents build personal relationships with him and can’t help but sympathize with him. Message: Not all Palestinians are potential terrorists, the vast majority simply want to get on with their lives and provide for their families.
This equally exciting and educational vision of the politics and culture of the two peoples is thanks to the two creators of the series: the journalist and political expert Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz. The latter is the son of Iraqi-Algerian Jews and also plays the main role in “Fauda”: Doron Kabilio, the testosterone-driven head of the counter-terrorism unit in question. It’s another leap from fiction to reality, as Raz joined the Israel Defense Forces at 18 and became a member of Sayeret Duvdevan, an elite counter-terrorism unit.
Before Raz became famous, he served another star: as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bodyguard in Hollywood. On October 7, when Hamas terrorists massacred more than 1,200 Israelis, he was torn from his sweet celebrity. The attacks were still ongoing when sensational videos appeared on social media.
One showed Lior Raz, accompanied by Avi Issacharoff, taking cover behind a wall as rockets exploded nearby. A caption on the recordings stated that the series’ creators had rushed to southern Israel to support their “brave brothers in arms.” The two later claimed in interviews that they had rescued two Israeli families from Sderot.
The next day, another “Fauda” actor hit the social media stage: Idan Amedi. Dressed in an Israeli Defense Forces uniform, he declared he had joined the fight against Hamas. The video ended with the note: “This is not a scene from ‘Fauda,’ this is real life.”
The fact that busy stars travel to trouble spots to draw attention to complaints (and themselves) is nothing new. Sean Penn flew to Ukraine where he met with President Zelensky. Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, who has a pilot’s license, is known for flying British soldiers out of Afghanistan.
But Amedi wanted to stay on the front line. He wrote on Instagram that he would no longer be seen in the entertainment world for a year. He has to fight now. In another clip he shows, now in the Gaza Strip, how he counts down before blowing up a target and dedicates the video to the victims of October 7 and two fallen comrades.
Skillful propaganda or honest patriotism? On social media, where war polarizes people around the world, opinions are obviously divergent in the Amedi case as well. A comparison often made is that the 20,000 dead residents of Gaza are compared to the 170 dead Israeli soldiers. Why should you celebrate an injured actor?
What happened to Amedi’s unit is now known. An Israeli tank bombed a building, causing a lamppost to tip onto the truck carrying the explosive, triggering the deadly explosion.
Israel, so the incident can be interpreted, cannot count on overwhelming military superiority or even on a “clean” war with drones. Deceived by the illusion of a war without Israeli deaths, the country hid behind an army of sensors. At least this is the criticism that “Fauda” expresses by sending its protagonists to fight house to house and operate undercover.
It is bitterly ironic that Idan Amedi, of all people, is now a true example of this. There is at least one difference from the fictional events of “Fauda”: While a main character dies in the series every season, Amedi’s condition is stable, Israeli media reported.
“Fauda” and other seriesPhilip Doubt he is co-head of the Life department. She studied English and journalism.More information@delabass
Did you find an error? Report it now.
15 comments
2024-01-11 17:45:00
#star #Fauda #injured #actor #war #Middle #East