Raed Azer, a 37-year-old Arab Israeli actor, says filming his role as a Nukhba terrorist in Fauda was emotionally draining because the show’s current seventh and eighth episodes recreate the 7 October attacks. The production even issued an unusual viewer warning for those episodes, which aired this week on yes, and said viewers could skip them without losing the plot.
Azer said the part was hard to carry because “there were nights I did not sleep,” and because two friends, Gali and Ziv Berman, had been kidnapped and later returned in the last hostage deal. He also recalled receiving a call on 7 October from friends in Kibbutz Kfar Aza who told him, “Brother, tell everyone they are killing people here, shooting everyone,” before hanging up. At the time, he was working in a rapid-response security role at events such as the Nova party, and said he had turned down a chance to work there because he was focused on acting. “The show saved my life,” he said.
He said the role followed him off set, where people feared he might be a real terrorist because of his shaved head and beard. Azer said it also took time to shake off similar roles in Rachel from Ofakim, Tahrir, and Shahar Adom, noting that serious drama requires him to fully feel the character. After nearly a decade of struggling in acting, he studied for a year at the Yoram Loewenstein acting school branch in Nazareth and has since become busy with film, theater, and commercials.
Azer said he views such roles as a mission, comparing them to actors playing Nazis in Hollywood films. He also said he had recently moved from Kfar Veradim to Haifa, where a recent Iranian missile hit landed near his home, and that he volunteers with Border Police. While some people now call him a “traitorous Zionist” for acting in Israeli series, others, including bereaved families, thank him. He said he has also received threats and insults, but added, “I am not afraid, let them come, with love.”
