Matan Meir, producer of “Fauda,” who died in combat in the Gaza Strip at the age of 38, in a picture shared by the series team.
Matan Meir, executive producer of the series Fauda, died in battle in Gaza this Saturday at the age of 38. The fiction team announced this through a statement published on its official account on the social network, which can be seen on Netflix. Meir is currently a reservist in his country’s army.
We are devastated to inform you that one of our Fauda family members, Matan Meir, was killed in the Gaza Strip. Matan was an integral part of the crew. The cast and crew are heartbroken over this tragic loss. We extend our condolences to Matan’s family and friends. May his soul rest in peace pic.twitter.com/kuaJ2gclGk
– Fauda Official (@FaudaOfficial) November 11, 2023
“We are devastated to inform you that one of our Fauda family members, Matan Meir, was killed in combat in Gaza. He was an integral part of the team. The cast and crew are heartbroken over this tragic loss. We extend our deepest condolences to Matan’s family and friends. May his soul rest in peace,” said the text from this Saturday.
According to local newspaper The Times of Israel, the producer died in the northern part of the Gaza Strip along with three other soldiers from Battalion 697 of the 551st Brigade of the Israeli Army and a member of the Givati Brigade’s logistics unit. The cause was an explosion from a booby-trapped tunnel next to a mosque in the Beit Hanoun area. Three other soldiers were injured, two of them in critical condition, reported Yediot Aharonot, one of the country’s largest newspapers, Antonio Pita reported from Tel Aviv.
Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of Sergeant and producer Matan Neir during the funeral this Monday, November 13.SHIR TOREM (Portal)
After hearing the news, Avi Issacharof, one of Fauda’s founders, mourned the death of Your partner in social networks, as well as its lead actor and co-creator of the series, Lior Raz, with a text very similar to that of the official report on the production. Raz is a veteran of the Shin Bet’s covert security operations in the West Bank and co-wrote the 48 episodes of the fiction with Issacharof, a journalist and former Palestinian affairs correspondent for Haaretz newspaper. Both were inspired by their personal experiences.
The term Fauda means chaos in Arabic. It serves as the title for one of Israeli television’s international hits. Over four seasons, the fiction focuses on an elite unit responsible for complex counter-terrorism missions. Other members of the team such as actress Shani Cohencalled and producer Liat Benasuly have also spoken out about Meir’s loss, Screendaily reports.
The actors Lior Raz (left) and Marina Maximilian Blumin, in a picture from “Fauda”.
Despite its success among international critics who appreciate its high technical quality and do not overtly fall into Manichaeism, the novel also attracts a number of critics due to the way its plot is set around such a delicate conflict at. George Zeidan, a Palestinian activist, self-defined Fauda in the Haaretz newspaper in 2020 as “ignorant, dishonest, sadly absurd and an anti-Palestinian incitement.”
Meir’s defeat was not the first the team has suffered in this series in recent weeks. Sound editor Lior Waitzman, who worked on both Fauda and Apple TV+’s Tehran, was killed in action on October 7 during the Hamas terror attacks.
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