How ‘Fauda’ responds to ‘Naza’

A piece of advice, an invitation, a plea: watch the new series of “Faud’a” on Netflix, particularly the seventh and eighth episodes – they’re shocking, gruesome and incredibly hard-hitting. It’s a bitter and sad pill to swallow, but it’s a powerful symbolic antidote to prevent you from being ensnared by the lies of “Naza”, which was hailed in Venice. One might object that I have not even watched it. That is true, yet I have reviewed the apologetic reports in the newspapers, which—unanimously (I have no choice but to believe this; I am sure Mancuso will forgive me)—are compelled to acknowledge that the alleged witnesses to the monstrous Israeli atrocities in Gaza have no name, no identity, not a shred of evidence, and not even the slightest documentary basis. Nothing, hot air, an agitprop office, as they used to say. Nobody knows who’s really speaking. Zero credibility. Fact-based allegations: zero. Documentary accuracy. Emotional impact on those who know nothing and love to demonise Israel by parading pro-Palestinian merchandise on the red carpet: a million. It’s not a film, it’s a fake investigation (so to speak), the sort of thing that, by comparison, makes the ‘Report method’ seem like the product of unshakeable objectivity in the (former) Anglo-Saxon mould. As the serious and rigorous historian Michele Sarfatti—the exact opposite of a Netanyahu supporter—wrote: “A public trial in the finest anti-democratic tradition (Mussolinian, Stalinist, take your pick). Prosecutors: faces concealed. Presentation of the case: a montage of excerpts from statements. Defence lawyers: none. Third parties: none. Presiding judge: the crowd at the trial. Verdict (automatic): guilty”. Thank you to Professor Sarfatti for his courage. He has exposed a tragic farce. And the Venetian standing ovation: another tragic farce.

However, there is an antidote: the new series of “Fauda”, in particular—and this cannot be overstated—the seventh and eighth episodes. We are now in the thick of a bitter cultural war: a war of emotions, a war of symbols, a war of images. One might argue that the producers, screenwriters, directors and actors are Israeli. Of course. The creators of Naza are also Israelis of the ‘good Jews’ sort (‘even the Jews say so’). So what? People say: ‘But Fauda is fiction; there’s no real-life Doron’ (though there is Lior Raz, who’s always played him – he’s brilliant). True, technically it is fiction. But the seventh and eighth episodes are faithfully modelled on the horrific footage from 7 October filmed by Hamas marauders to boast about the massacre of Jews and instil the utmost terror in the very guts of the brutalised Zionists. These images represent scenes of unspeakable horror and ferocious sadism, all rigorously documented and reproduced in the new series of Fauda. We see the (documented) images of young Israelis – Jews, but also Arab Israelis – being massacred whilst fleeing from the Hamas murderers. We see the (documented) images – only a pro-Hamas activist like Francesca Albanese could be a denier – of children killed in cold blood, a burst of machine-gun fire to the head and on to the next victim: not a war, but an apocalyptic bloodbath. We see the (documented) images—only the fake pro-Islamist “feminists” of “Non una di meno” could be deniers—of Jewish women, as well as Arab-Israeli women, being raped and sometimes gang-raped by thugs intoxicated by ethnic rape. We see the (documented) images of kibbutzim set alight and reduced to ashes, with Jewish families burnt alive even whilst locked away in bunker rooms in the hope of escaping the exterminating fury of the jihadist fighters. One sees the (documented) images of children and infants abducted and dragged away as hostages into the caves of Gaza – 400 kilometres of tunnels and passageways built whilst the accomplices at UNRWA (an indelible stain on the UN, which persecutes Israel) turned a blind eye in order to curry favour with the Hamas leaders.

Watch “Fauda”. Look at these harrowing images – this is not an advert. Of course, it is an excellent drama, with brilliant plotlines, twists and turns, intense emotions, and extraordinary actors throughout all eleven episodes of this new series. But it is also an excellent document, a powerful weapon in the cultural and symbolic war against the lies of the new Dr Goebbels. Watch it. And I will say it again and again: frame by frame, especially episodes seven and eight.