The new season of Fauda, released on September 8 on Netflix, is a hit around the world, as the series tends to be – but the big news is that, even as anti-Israel sentiment mounts around the world, it is the number one show in Lebanon, according to tracking sites such as FlixPatrol.
Not only is it the top show in Lebanon, which has been in a state of war with Israel since 1948, but it is or has been in the top 10 in nine other Arab countries that have different relationships with Israel.
At the time of writing, it ranks fourth in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar; sixth in Bahrain and Morocco; seventh in Oman; eighth in Kuwait; and tenth in Egypt.
Earlier in the week, it reached number two in Jordan, the UAE, and Bahrain; number three in Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, and Oman; and number four in Egypt. In Saudi Arabia, it reached number eight, but has since dropped out of the Top 10.
The tracking sites, which release statistics before Netflix releases its own figures, are considered reliable.
Two Israelis, Lior Raz (who also stars in it) and Avi Issacharoff, created Fauda, and Yes Studios produced it. It is about an Israeli counterterrorism commando unit and is based on true stories.
The show has frequently won praise for its depiction of Palestinian characters, some of whom are portrayed with great sympathy, such as Dr. Shirin (Laëtitia Eïdo), a West Bank physician caught between various factions.
The success of the new season in the Arab world is not unprecedented; the fourth season of Fauda, released in 2022, performed similarly well across the Middle East.
Reportedly, it has long been a guilty pleasure among Palestinians in the West Bank and even in Gaza.
What is remarkable about the release of the fifth and final season is that despite the waves of hatred against Zionism and Israel, Arabs are still tuning in – and in large numbers, especially since two episodes of the new season present a detailed flashback to the events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists massacred 1,200 in southern Israel.
The family members of one of the main characters are slaughtered graphically, and members of the unit try and fail to save many others across the region.
Issacharoff said, in an interview with Ynet, ahead of the release of this season, “People asked whether Fauda would still try to present both sides. But this event is different. Here, you want to tell the story from an Israeli perspective.”
That may be, but Arabs around the Middle East are still tuning in, and the press is writing about the series respectfully in many of these countries.
In the Lebanese newspaper Al Joumhouria, a mainstream Center-Right Arabic-language daily, its reviewer wrote about the show from the perspective of someone who knows and likes it: “Ironically, Fauda becomes more compelling when it stops trying to be exciting all the time.
“Its best moments aren’t necessarily those where cars explode, or characters exchange gunfire, but rather those where the series leaves its characters lingering in the silence following the explosion …
“The plot sometimes feels smaller than the reality it’s trying to represent. This makes some storylines feel all too familiar. … This is where the series’ limitations become apparent.
“Fauda aims to be simultaneously a special operations series, a psychological drama, and a commentary on post-October 7 Israel. It can succeed in each of these roles individually, but it doesn’t always manage to weave them into a cohesive plot.”
Just like many reviewers in Israel, this Lebanese reviewer asked the question: “When a real trauma is transformed into dramatic material, the question becomes bigger than the quality of the scene: Who is telling the story?
“Who has the right to define the victim and the perpetrator? And where does the drama end and the construction of the political narrative begin?”
That’s a question that can only be answered by those who watch Fauda, and it’s clear that, whatever their political beliefs about Israel, many Arab viewers are debating such questions among themselves.
