Stories by Vanessa Obioha
There have been calls to boycott the popular Spanish heist drama series ‘Money Heist’ in the Middle East after two of the actors praised Israel in an interview. Reports filtered in that Palestinians and other anti-Zionists were not happy with the interview of Darko Peric, who played Helsinki, and Spanish-Armenian actor Hovik Keuchkerian who played Bogota in the hit Netflix series.
Peric had spoken glowingly about Israel in his interview with Israel’s Channel 12. “It was a marvellous experience and I hope to come back again. I know that there are a lot of fans here, and the people here are great.
“When people travel to Israel, they always talk about strict security and police measures, but when I arrived here even the police wanted to take pictures with me. It was great!”
On Keuchkerian part, his praise of ‘Fauda’, a Netflix Israeli drama about an undercover unit, the mistaravim, whose commandos carry out missions in the occupied Palestinian territories while disguised as Arabs, earned him a backlash.
Fauda, which was created by journalist Avi Issacharoff and actor Lior Raz, was pilloried by activists and commentators, who have accused the show of exploiting Palestinian suffering and turning it into entertainment.
Since the ‘Money Heist’ actors’ interview went viral, social media users in the region have been calling for viewers to boycott it despite its popularity. “While millions of Money Heist fans wait for the fifth season, performers from the successful show appeared on an Israeli channel, expressing their support for the Israeli occupation and celebrating its criminal activities against Palestinian(s),” wrote one Twitter user.
The protesters went as far as writing negative reviews on the series IMDb profile page.
One commenter wrote: “I love the series but praising Israel? What a Shame.” Another wrote: “Will stop watching series that support an apartheid state that’s terrorising the Palestinian people.”
The social media protesters believe that the negative comments could help in raising awareness about the Palestinian struggle.
Netflix premiered the first volume of the final instalment of the series on Friday, September 3. The series follows the story of a criminal mind known as The Professor who recruits thieves with special skills to carry out the greatest heists in history. First, The Royal Mint of Spain and later the Bank of Spain.
The first volume showed the death of Tokyo, the series narrator which pained fans across the globe. The second volume will premiere in December.
