Grover C. Magnus 
Palestinian actors dressed as militants attack a replica Israeli tank as a crew from the Hamas-run al-Aqsa satellite channel shoots a 30-episode series, titled ‘Fist of the Free’, in Beit Lahiya, the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. The series is the latest production from Hamas’ media wing and features Hamas fighters as scrappy heroes outmaneuvering a better-armed Israeli army. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip – Palestinian militants rushed out of the tunnel and attacked an Israeli tank in broad daylight as gunfire and explosions echoed across the Gaza border.
This time it was not the start of another war, but an action scene filmed for a television series produced by the territory’s militant Hamas leaders.
The 30-episode series, titled “Fist of the Free,” casts the fighters as scrappy heroes outmaneuvering a better-armed Israeli army. Unlike “Fauda,” the hit Israeli drama that deals with some of the same topics, it’s unlikely to be picked up by Netflix.
It is the latest such production by the media arm of Hamas, which has invested heavily in its offerings despite a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza since the Islamic militant group took power in 2007.
The shows air on Hamas-run television, and “Fist of the Free” will debut during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan, when viewership soars after the dawn-to-dusk fast and networks across the Muslim world will launch big budget offers.
“The idea of our films and series is centered on our fight against the enemy”, explains Sadi al-Attar, the assistant director. He says the latest broadcast is a response to “Zionist aggression”.
The story centers on a botched real-life Israeli raid in Gaza in 2018. An undercover unit disguised as Palestinian aid workers aroused suspicion in a town near the border. When their cover was destroyed, a firefight ensued in which seven Hamas fighters and an Israeli commander were killed.
In real life, the undercover unit was detected by local residents, the death toll was lopsided, and Israel managed to evacuate 16 undercover agents. In the dramatization, Hamas brilliantly outwits the Israelis and wins a major victory.
Al-Attar rejects any comparison with “Fauda,” which focuses on a covert Israeli unit that poses as Palestinians and carries out daring raids against militants. This series features complex characters facing moral compromises, but has been criticized for its wacky twists and for reducing Palestinians to villains in a crime-drama-like shoot-’em-up.
“We don’t respond to them in their Fauda program,” al-Attar said. He admitted watching a few scenes from the Netflix thriller, calling it “a liar and a deceiver”.
Hamas and Israel have fought four wars and dozens of more limited skirmishes over the years. Israel and Western countries consider Hamas a terrorist group because of its long history of attacks on Israeli civilians. Hamas, which won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, presents itself as the “resistance” to the military occupation, a point of view reflected in its media productions.
The group has produced seven series and several films focusing on the conflict, most of which air on its Al-Aqsa satellite television network during Ramadan.
In 2017 he built a full film set based on the Old City of Jerusalem, including a replica of the Dome of the Rock – part of a holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims and which has been a focal point. persistent flash for Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Al-Attar declined to say how much was being spent on the latest series, which he said was funded by donations.
There were no cranes on set, so aerial shots were taken by drone or by a cameraman sitting on another man’s shoulders. The crew members used their camera batteries to detonate fake explosives. The shooting took place at a Hamas military base near the border.
The cast is recruited locally, from a population that has had little contact with Israelis since Hamas seized power and the tightening of the blockade.
Zohair al-Bebisi, a 64-year-old man who has never set foot in Israel, has been cast as David, an Israeli commando tasked with sneaking into Gaza to retrieve high-tech equipment captured by cunning militants from the Hamas.
“This is my first time playing the role of an Israeli intelligence officer,” al-Belbisi said as he rested between takes. He described his character as “very cunning”, with a knack for getting out of dangerous situations – until his luck ran out.
Spoiler alert: David is killed by friendly fire.
Propaganda is largely unchecked inside Gaza, where Hamas does not tolerate dissent. Since coming to power in 2007, Hamas has imprisoned journalists and activists, banned newspapers, shut down rival television stations and restricted film screenings.
His rivals in the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which is confined to parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, have also cracked down on dissent.
Hamas hopes to win a wider audience for its latest production, offering the rights for free to channels in Syria, Lebanon, Algeria and Turkey. But it will struggle to break into the Ramadan lineup, when production houses in the region create high-quality dramas with big-name actors.
It is also likely to face obstacles online, as Facebook, YouTube and streaming services censor content perceived to incite violence.
But al-Attar says they wouldn’t make an appointment with Netflix even if he asked, because the streaming service “is biased in favor of the occupation.”
