Reality sometimes surpasses fiction. “I remember saying: Guys, what are the chances that dozens of terrorists are coming to the border and the IDF doesn’t know about it?” recalls Avi Issacharoff, co-creator of the Israeli series Fauda. “They would be killed before they could even get close, that’s for sure,” he explained to his production teams, dismissing the idea of such a scenario, precisely that of the attack on October 7. against Israeli territories along the Gaza Strip.
In an interview for the British media Jewish News, Avi Issacharoff says he envisaged the creation of a scenario where Hamas terrorists would attack the Kibbutz, after crossing the Gaza border. The idea came from Lior Raz, the co-creator and main actor of the series, who plays the characterful character of Doron. At the time, the plot did not convince his partner Issacharoff who abandoned the idea, considering it totally far-fetched and improbable. “The Israeli Defense Forces would never allow Hamas to go that far into the country,” he convinced himself.
Since the attack on October 7, Fauda’s team has had to profoundly modify the scenario for the next season. “What we had written became completely useless,” says Issacharoff. However, he assures that “in the middle of this new world”, a new season is being written. The desire to stick to the reality of the conflict remains intact. “What we had written has become completely irrelevant and so we are reinventing the series, just as in a way Israel will have to be reinvented,” he summarizes.
What Issacharoff thought improbable happened on October 7. Hamas terrorists entered Israeli territory killing more than 1,200 people and taking 240 others hostage. Since then, the co-creator of Fauda has remained incredulous at the IDF’s inability to anticipate this attack. “There were indications that Hamas was planning this. The Israeli intelligence services were informed of this a year ago,” he regrets.
Last November, the Fauda team lost producer Matan Meir, killed in combat. One of the star actors, Idan Amedi, who plays the character of Sagi Tuzur, was seriously injured on January 8. A few days ago, he declared that he was “unrecognizable” and “burned” when he entered the hospital.