With so much going on, it can be easy to forget important dates. One not to miss is that this summer marks 20 years since the so-called “Disengagement,” when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and part of the West Bank.
It was a stormy summer, as those who believed Israelis should continue to live in Gaza protested the upcoming dismantling of all Jewish settlements there, even though the move was proposed by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon, known as a hawk, and approved by the Knesset.
Proponents of the move also took to the streets, and there were countless confrontations. Kan 11 is releasing a three-part documentary series on July 21 after the news called Where Were You During the Disengagement that revisits the controversial decision.
Part one will look at how the decision was taken, and examines how Sharon, who had previously supported the expansion of Jewish settlement in the Strip, did an about-face and persuaded his government to support the retreat.
The episode also looks at the voices predicting a disaster much like what happened on October 7, 2023, which sounded extreme at the time and now seem prescient, and also features those who still feel the disengagement was the correct decision.
The second part focuses on how the disengagement was actually accomplished, as thousands of settlers who refused to obey the order to leave were evacuated by force, urging the soldiers evacuating them to refuse to take part.
Part three will probe the long-term effect that disengagement has had on different sectors of Israeli society. It’s a thought-provoking series and you may be surprised at what politicians had to say about the decision two decades ago.
Off Road – Netflix
If you want to see an Israeli series that’s a little lighter, you might want to try Off Road on Netflix, which is also available in the US on the streaming service. It’s a series about a month-long road trip to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on jeeps undertaken by two of Israel’s biggest stars, Lior Raz and Rotem Sela.
Raz is the star and creator of Fauda, and has appeared in many international films. Sela is a model-turned-actress, who won an award at Series Mania for her performance in the series A Body That Works, and who also hosts many talent contest shows, such as The Next Star for Eurovision.
She and Raz, who are both married to others and tout their relationship as strictly platonic, first met on A Body that Works, where she played an editor and he was a bestselling bad-boy writer, and they had undeniable on-screen chemistry. They later teamed up in Erez Tadmor’s movie Soda, where there was also a romance between their characters.
Frankly, it’s hard to imagine what American audiences who don’t know the two will think of their endless banter, but Kazakhstan (which you may associate with Borat) and Kyrgyzstan make for gorgeous backdrops.
They meet cute kids who play folk music and wise hosts who explain the tradition of the younger generation supporting their parents in these traditional cultures.
There are many fish-out-of-water scenes, for example when the two actors, who are both vegetarian, have to come to terms with the fact that hunting and meat-eating are a key part of the local lifestyles.
As the two bicker and flirt their way through beautiful vistas and on treacherous, muddy roads in typical reality-show style, it seems the overarching question – despite their earnest talk of wanting to disengage from the rat race and enjoy the world around them – is whether their teasing friendship will flower into something more.
The fans who have made it number one on Israel’s Netflix charts are likely drawn in hoping that the two telegenic TV personalities will find love among the yurts. No spoilers here – you’ll have to watch the series to find out.
Too Much – Netflix
FOR FANS of Girls, the new Netflix series Too Much will be just enough. Like Girls, Too Much was created by Lena Dunham, who also has a small role in it. It’s a kind of updated version of Girls, and stars Megan Stalter as Dunham’s latest alter-ego, Jessica Salmon.
Stalter was seen previously on Hacks, playing a rich brat who turns out to be a talented agent, and she is one of the funniest performers on the series.
In Too Much, she portrays a New York television commercial producer whose boyfriend dumps her for a gorgeous influencer (Emily Ratajkowski). Crashing at the Great Neck, Long Island, home owned by her grandmother (Rhea Perlman of Taxi), she sees herself as a failure like her underemployed mother (Rita Wilson) and sister (Dunham), who are also stuck there.
Soon, she takes off for a job in London. This has more than a few echoes of Dunham’s life, since she moved to London herself, following a breakup from music producer Jack Antonoff, and married musician Luis Felber, who produced Too Much with her.
The show plays a little like Girls meets Emily in Paris, since it’s about a young woman running away from her problems by moving abroad, and highlights her culture clashes with the locals, which are predictable but funny.
Jessica’s fantasies of British life involve Jane Austen movies and prestige British TV shows, and it’s fun to see her confronting the reality of the modern city. Before Jessica leaves, her sister tells her, “Americans think British people are snotty and pretentious but smart. British people think Americans are stupid and vulgar but funny.”
Like Girls, the show is both laughing at and with Jessica, who, like Hannah Horvath, the heroine of Girls who was played by Dunham, combines an outsized ego with crippling insecurity in ways that don’t make sense but feel real.
Soon after Jessica arrives in London, she meets Felix (Will Sharpe, who played one of the young husbands on Season Two of The White Lotus), an improbably dreamy musician, who is quickly smitten with her. Sharpe is very different here than he was as the reserved hi-tech guy in Lotus, and he’s already become an Internet heartthrob from Too Much, like the Hot Priest a few years ago on Fleabag, the hit series also set in London with Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Some of Jessica’s struggles as she navigates her new city and new relationship become repetitive, but if you enjoyed Girls, you’ll likely warm to her.
The series is filled with Dunham’s clever lines that find comedy in millennials’ angst, such as one uttered by Felix’s roommate (Prasanna Puwanarajah), who says, “I want to make the world a better place for the children I don’t want and may never be ready for.”