Fauda Season 5 – The Season That Didn’t Apologize

As I wrote last month (link), I had serious hesitations about whether to watch the new season of Fauda. In the end, I decided to go for it. The season is structured so that the October 7th episodes (7 and 8) can be skipped, which gave me time to decide whether to watch them when I got there.

What pushed me further was a Facebook post someone shared with me from The Economist, which opened with: “If you want to understand how many Israelis have hardened their hearts to Gaza’s torment, the show can help.” I was fuming. It reminded me exactly why I cancelled my 20-year subscription. If I were to rewrite that sentence, it would read: “If you want to understand how, three years after October 7th, Israelis are still fighting terror, and not only in Israel, the show can help.”

First, congratulations to the writers and the whole team. This is by far the best season of Fauda in every respect. It is unapologetically Israeli. There is no hand-wringing over the terrorists killed on screen, and no attempt to paint them as victims or as worthy of mercy. The main characters are judge, jury and executioner. In that sense, it shares a clear affinity with the brilliant Inglorious Bastards, as well as its lead actress, Mélanie Laurent.

I won’t give away any spoilers, but I want to address a few major themes I think they got right.

Europe

The show jumps straight in, two years after October 7th, and transports you to France, a country very much in the headlines these past few days. France, that hotbed of antisemitism and, in recent years, of anti-Israel sentiment. Since October 7th, with the rise of the protest movements, pro-Gaza politicians and, in the UK, even political parties, this really is the big story. The wave that erupted across Europe, already organised on October 7th 2023 itself, has only continued to grow, dominating the mainstream media and, in turn, the man on the street.

The idea that Hamas members live freely in Europe, plotting against Jewish communities and organising through not-for-profit organisations, is incredibly pertinent. Many countries simply have no grip on the situation. Much lip service is paid to Jewish communities, but given the level of threat Jews in the diaspora face, not nearly enough is being done. Sadly, the next tragedy is a matter of when, not if.

A Post-Trauma Nation

The flashbacks, the guilt carried by members of the security services, and the way the events of that day continue to plague them were incredibly accurate and emotional to watch. We are quick to assign blame to those who made the mistakes of October 7th, but those who recognise their role, and certainly those who fought and lost on the day, are clearly still living with a very heavy burden. In fact, all of us are still suffering to some extent, three years on, knowing what was done that day. Encountering evil of that kind, face to face, so to speak, has left many of us unable to fathom the world we live in, and the world we are bringing our children up in. That can make the motivation for day-to-day living difficult. More needs to done to support people suffering in this way.

The Recurring Ugly Face of Terror

The show follows a cell formed in Europe, recruiting native Europeans as well as Islamists, training them to carry out a terror attack on Israeli soil. It is almost exhausting to hear the same Islamist narratives about Jews and Israelis again and again, like a broken record. But that’s just it, isn’t it? As long as hate preachers preach hate, as long as schools teach that Jews are the devil, and as long as maths books teach children to count Intifada martyrs and calculate the trajectory of a bullet meant for an Israeli, the work of Israel’s incredible security services will remain necessary every single day, in Israel and beyond.

Is everyone tired of it? I can sincerely vouch that Israelis are. But reality is reality, and thank God that in 2026 Israelis are able to defend themselves. Because what the show makes clear is that no one else is going to do it for you. Certainly not the French!

October 7th

In the end, I decided to watch the two episodes. Watching them so close to the anniversary, it felt like the right thing to do, and I was impressed. Recreating and acting out those events was an extraordinarily difficult task. I knew the real stories the episodes were based on, and sadly I had seen most of the published footage from the day. Fauda’s portrayal is very tame compared with what I have seen (and wish I could unsee). But for a non-Jewish audience (I’ve heard many in the Arab world watched the show), it was perfectly crafted, and incredibly emotional because of our connection to characters we have learnt to love over the past five seasons. That is what gives it its power. There is nothing I would change in these two episodes.

I think the writers achieved what they set out to achieve, and I can only hope that in a world of lies, Fauda can somehow set the record straight for the outside world about exactly what happened, and why Israel continues to fight terror.

Particularly poignant was the Kaddish at the end. Maybe I was reading into it, but when Doron, with tears in his eyes for his fallen friend, recited the words “Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol Yisrael, v’imru: Amen,” I think it was a much broader statement, one that may have been lost on a non-Jewish audience. In English: “May the One who makes peace in the high heavens bring peace upon us and upon all Israel, and let us say: Amen.”

The one thing anyone who personally knows Israelis or Jews knows for certain is that we pray for peace every day. We hope to merit living in that world, for our own sakes and for our children’s. But we say it with a tear in our eye, looking back at Jewish history, knowing that it is not yet. Not yet.