A thrilling Israeli TV series offers radically balanced portraits of both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

TELEVISION

BY SHIRA RUBIN

@shira_rubin

WAY OF THE GUN: Fauda co-creator and star Raz (front window)

NETFLIX

FAUDA, WHICH MEANS “CHAOS” in Arabic, is used by the Israeli military to signify an operation that has gone bust. It is also, aptly, the title of an acclaimed television thriller about a conflict that continues to rip through the Middle East and international politics. A war is, by definition, messy and complex; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is beyond that—an entrenched web of mayhem that Fauda, a production of the tiny Israeli TV industry, has done a superb job of untangling, with nuance and poignancy.

“Arabs tell us it’s an Arab show, right-wingers tell us it’s a right-wing show, leftists a left-wing show”, says Lior Raz, one of Fauda’s co-creators and the show’s star. “We worried the reaction would be just the opposite.”