When Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff pitched their TV series about an undercover Israeli unit that hunts Palestinians preparing to launch terror attacks, Israel’s Keshet network told them to write a comedy about the conflict instead.
Now, the creators of the hit series Fauda — who stuck to their guns — are having the last laugh. Speaking at the 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to promote the release of the show’s second season, they addressed their critics, including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement’s call for Netflix to drop the show.
“But it was a kind of a good PR for us,” Issacharoff said.
The show, while fictional, pulls from the experiences of both Raz — who served in an undercover unit similar to the one on the show — and Issacharoff, a longtime journalist who spent a lot of time in Gaza and met with top Hamas officials.
Issacharoff said that much of the criticism he sees isn’t “about Fauda as a TV show,” but based on “a political issue with the State of Israel.”
Raz also addressed those who say that Palestinian writers should be added to the show, to give their perspective.
“I really want to tell … all those critics who ask us to bring Palestinian writers, if Palestinians want to write a show, they should write a show,” Raz said.
Asked if there will be peace between Israelis and Palestinians — and if there could be a two-state solution — Raz said that he has hope, since Germany and Israel are now friendly nations.
Issacharoff said he is both pessimistic and optimistic.
