Watching Israeli TV’s <em>Fauda</em> as a Palestinian
It’s the third week of Ramadan, a month of fasting, charity, and prayer for the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims. In the Arab world, it’s also a month for an influx of new TV specials, which families gather to watch after breaking their fast. Since I’ve spent most of my Ramadans outside the Arab world—often without access to the region’s popular TV channels—I’ve never been able to enjoy these shows the way my family members in the region might. Which show I watch depends on whatever Netflix has on offer at the time. My last couple of Ramadans have involved reruns of The Office and Frasier.
But this year, one week into Ramadan, I noticed the release of the second season of the Israeli political thriller (the word means “chaos” in Arabic). The show follows an undercover unit of the Israeli army called the Mista’aravim. Arabic-speaking soldiers pose as Palestinian civilians to apprehend suspected terrorists in the West Bank. First broadcast in Israel in
