Master Thesis Title of Master Thesis The Occupation in Television An Analysis of how Fauda’s Portrayal of Palestinians impacts the perception of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Sina Ritt A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF MA MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES Leiden University, Faculty of Humanities 2021 Leiden, May 2021 Student Number: S2966239 Degree: MA Middle Eastern Studies Supervisor: Dr. Tsolin Nalbantian Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude toward my thesis supervisor Dr. Tsolin Nalbantian for her support and expertise during the process of writing my thesis, for her input on background reading, many brainstorming sessions, and her guidance. Furthermore, I would like to thank Dr. Petra de Bruijn whose class at the University of Leiden inspired my research topic. Lastly, I want to thank Clara Kaltenegger without whom, this degree would not have been possible – thank you! I Table of Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................... I Disclaimer ............................................................................................................................................... 1 Note on Transliteration ............................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Historical Background ......................................................................................................................... 4 Representation of Palestinians ............................................................................................................. 5 Method ................................................................................................................................................ 6 Textual Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 6 Para-Textual Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 8 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 8 1. Israeli Television Production ............................................................................................................. 10 1.1 The Representation of Palestinians in Israeli Television and Film ............................................. 11 1.2 Producers, Creators, Cast, and Crew ........................................................................................... 14 1.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 17 2. Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 18 2.1 Professional Occupations ............................................................................................................ 20 2.2 The Use of Violence .................................................................................................................... 26 2.3 Women ........................................................................................................................................ 32 2.4 Religion ....................................................................................................................................... 39 3. The Impact of a Television Show ...................................................................................................... 43 3.1 Newspaper Articles ..................................................................................................................... 46 3.2 IMDB .......................................................................................................................................... 47 3.3 Twitter ......................................................................................................................................... 48 3.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 49 4. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 51 5. Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 55 6. Appendix ........................................................................................................................................... 62 6.1 Screenshots of discussed Tweets ................................................................................................. 62 Disclaimer This thesis was written before the outbreak of violence in Israel and Gaza strip in May 2021. These events are not considered in this piece of work. However, their effect on future cultural production in Israel is an interesting topic and should be explored in another setting. Note on Transliteration To prevent confusion the Arabic and Hebrew Names of Characters in the Fauda were taken over as spelled in the show, without regard for a systematic or consistent transliteration. Author’s, producer’s, creator’s, and actor’s names were spelled as on their official publications, websites, or as spelled in the show’s credits. 1 Introduction The Television show Fauda, meaning “chaos” in Arabic, tells the story of an Israeli undercover unit operating in the occupied Palestinian territories. The show was created by Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz in 2015. The two friends were inspired by their former professions.1 Raz, a former member of an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) undercover unit, and Issacharoff, a well-known journalist, reporting from the Occupied Palestinian Territories,2 set out to tell the Arab-Israeli conflict from an “insider’s” perspective. Their goal was to show the fight between Israelis and Palestinians in a new light: to cover both sides of the struggle and dive deep into the emotional toll it takes on all parties involved, depicting mental health issues and signs of PTSD. Fauda is influenced by Israeli news coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict and portrays realistic and understated styling.3 The evening news, as Yael Munk explained, has a cult status in Israel and is an inherent part of the daily routine of most Israelis.4 Issacharoff and Raz tried to use stylistic elements of the evening news reports to connect with their audience. The creators of the show made the conscious decision to shoot it in Arab villages in Israel, far from major Israeli cities, and more central villages that are often used in television production and thus well known by the Israeli audience.5 The show reached immense popularity in Israel and was bought and distributed by Netflix in 2016. Not only did Fauda gain popularity for its storyline and styling, but it generated praise for its “humane” and “three-dimensional” portrayal of Palestinians as well as its critique of the Israeli Defence Forces. Damian Whitworth wrote for the The Times that Fauda’s plot “might read like the outline for a Palestinian propaganda film” and notes Arab-Israeli unity in their love for the show.6 Three years later, Hugo Rifkind 1 Oded Nir, “Fauda and Crisis,” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 18:1, (2019): 125ff. 2 The Occupied Palestinian Territories encompass the West Bank and the Gaza strip. 3 Nir, „Fauda,“ 125ff. 4 Yael Munk, „Fauda: the Israeli occupation on a Prime Time Television Drama; or, the melodrama of the enemy,” New Review of Film and Television Studies. 17:4, (2019): 488. 5 Noa Lavie and Amal Jamal. „Constructing ethnonational differentiation o nthe set of the TV series, Fauda,” Ethnicities, Vol. 19(6), )2019): 1045ff. 6 Damian Whitworth, “Fauda: the show that makes Israelis like Hamas,” The Times, 11. November 2015. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fauda-the-show-that-makes-israelis-like-hamas-5qjltkhlzf8 2 published an article in the New York Times7 in which he expressed surprise that Israelis seem to love Fauda even though Palestinians in the show are “rarely absolute villains.”8 On the other side of the spectrum, Fauda was critiqued for its orientalist and one-sided portrayal of Palestinians9 as well as its glorification of human rights violations.10 These points of critique are often dismissed as unjustified nonsense by the show’s producers, actors, and fans.11 While producers and actors deny the vilification of Palestinians, some fans recognize it but understand Fauda to be an action show free from political influence or ramifications. Others believe Fauda portrays the Arab-Israeli conflict truthfully and realistically.12 Apart from the portrayal of Palestinians and the IDF in Fauda, I will consider the show’s ability to produce a balanced image of the conflict. Regarding the impact of cultural production John Fiske and John Hartley argued that the previous social function of reaching the masses has gone from novels to television.13 This in itself is not a new idea. Pierre Bourdieu and Randal Johnson predicted that television would eventually become the most relevant and influential field of production.14 By now many scholars of media studies agree that