In the second week of September, the fifth season of Fauda climbed to number one on Netflix in Lebanon and broke into the top 10 in Jordan, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait, Maariv reported. The paper called the achievement a genuine source of astonishment, "especially for a season that deals with the events of October 7, 2023, and their aftermath."
Maariv's explanation is blunt: a large share of Arab viewers appear "tired of the recycled 'resistance' narrative of Hamas and Hezbollah," and find in Fauda's television fiction "a more realistic and sober reflection of the bleeding region in which they live."
Maariv built its analysis around a column in The Atlantic by John Aziz, a Palestinian raised in Britain. Aziz writes that the series captures the cycle of terror and revenge in which both sides are trapped.
The column also points to an eerie piece of foresight. As far back as the first season, Hamas commander Abu Ahmad laid out what would later become Yahya Sinwar's strategic logic: a deadly attack that would provoke an unprecedented Israeli response, with the aim of igniting a wide regional war that would draw in Iran.
The new season is set in 2025 and revisits the massacre through carefully edited flashbacks. According to Maariv, Aziz argues that the realistic portrayal of the atrocities poses a direct challenge to viewers in the Arab world who deny Hamas's war crimes or claim the massacre was a conspiracy.
Aziz is not an uncritical fan. He argues the show critiques the Israeli belief that the conflict can simply be contained rather than resolved. He also points to what he calls a clear asymmetry: Palestinian ideology is shown in detail, while the Israeli characters' politics stay vague. Viewers never learn where Doron Kavillio stands on settlements or on Israel's leadership, he notes, and the war in Gaza itself stays largely off screen.
Even so, Maariv writes, the show's success comes down to its cultural accessibility, its extensive use of Arabic, and its portrayal of Palestinian characters as complex people rather than a one-dimensional threat.
Fauda, created by Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, premiered its fifth season in Israel in May and on Netflix worldwide on September 8.
