‘Fauda’ Actor Idan Amedi Recovering From Wounds After Seriously Injured Fighting in Gaza

Troy O. Fritzhand

Idan Amedi. Photo: Screenshot

Israeli actor Idan Amedi, who is best known for his role in the hit series Fauda on Netflix, was seriously wounded while fighting in Gaza as a reservist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Amedi, who is also one of Israel’s most popular singers, suffered shrapnel wounds while fighting terrorists on Monday before he was evacuated to the Sheba Medical Center by Tel Aviv.

Amedi’s father confirmed the injury to Hebrew-language media, saying his son would live but asked the public to pray for his recovery. The actor is reportedly in stable condition after being sedated and intubated at the hospital.

After Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 others as hostages, Amedi jumped into action, joining the IDF as a reservist. He has been actively fighting in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave.

“I am ready not to perform or sing a song for a year,” he told his fans in a social media post after a month of fighting. “We must not abandon the citizens of the south and the north. We will not stop fighting [until] the elimination of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.”

As Israel fights Hamas to its south in Gaza, the Jewish state has been clashing with Hezbollah forces to the north with increasing intensity. The Iran-backed terror group based in Lebanon has been targeting northern Israel since Oct. 7.

In November, Amedi shared a video on Instagram of him directing a strike on a building in Gaza, dedicating the military action to the victims of the Oct. 7 onslaught.

The actor previously paid tribute to victims of the terror attacks when he visited a beach in Gaza with fellow Israelis and raised the flag of the Supernova music festival, where Hamas killed hundreds of young people.

Lior Raz, the main star of Fauda, issued a statement with his co-creator Avi Issacharoff on the news of Amedi’s injury.

“Our dear brother Idan is a true hero. From the first day of the war he decided to put everything aside and go out to fight, first in the north and then in the south,” they said. “We pray for his speedy recovery and are sure that he will be fine. The Fauda family sends our condolences to the families of the victims, and to the families of the injured a full recovery.”

Amedi’s wife on the show, Rona Lee Shimon, wrote: “You are the most noble man I have ever known. There are no other people like you. There are no partners like you. Your pure and generous heart always beats strong. Your human love always goes a moment. Before your shy smile. I’ve been holding a prayer tight for hours … From Oct. 7, you fight like a lion. With all our best children. You are a hero of an era. I love you … Idan get well soon. We are waiting for you.”

Well wishes also came from the United States, where Israeli professional basketball player Deni Avdija, who plays forward for the NBA’s Washington Wizards, wore shoes that he signed with the words: “Recovery for Idan ben Tova Amedia,” in reference to his Hebrew name, which is typically used in prayers for recovery.

Fauda crew member Matan Meir, 38, was killed in action in November while fighting in Gaza as an IDF reservist.

Netanyahu taps Aharon Barak to represent Israel in ICJ genocide case

DAVID ISAAC

The government’s choice of one of its biggest opponents has surprised observers and has met with mixed reactions from ministers.

.
Former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

Israel has chosen Aharon Barak, 87, a former president of the Israeli Supreme Court, to sit as its representative on the judges’ panel at the International Court of Justice in the Hague to hear proceedings brought by South Africa against Israel, which the former accuses of violating the Genocide Convention.

The hearings are scheduled for Jan. 11-12. The first day South Africa will present its oral argument. Israel will present on the second day.

The hearings will be devoted to South Africa’s request for “provisional measures” to be brought against Israel, meaning an emergency suspension of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza while the court decides the case.

The 15-judge panel will be expanded by two additional judges, one from each side in the case.

The choice of Barak has surprised observers and has been met with mixed reactions from government members as he led Israel’s “constitutional revolution” in the 1990s—In the eyes of Israel’s political right a power grab which has led to a decades-long expansion of the court’s power.

When the Netanyahu coalition introduced its judicial reform plan in January, arguing that it would restore a growing imbalance between the three branches of government, the ensuing battle consumed Israel’s political discourse for the next 10 months, ceasing only with the Hamas attack in October.

During the contest, which saw opponents of reform take to the streets in weekly protests, Barak became a bogeyman of the right, as he helped the opposition undermine the government’s efforts by warning that the reform posed a threat to Israel’s democracy.

Perhaps the most outspoken critic of the choice of Barak to represent Israel at the ICJ has been Knesset member Tali Gottlieb of the Likud, who tweeted on Sunday, “With all due respect, I don’t agree that retired [Supreme Court] President Aharon Barak will be the judge on behalf of the State of Israel at the Hague tribunal, even at the request of Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

She added: “One who came out against the government last year and presented it in such a negative light now represents the country? And under the auspices of a right-wing government? Indescribable.”

According to Kan News, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu of the Otzma Yehudit Party wrote on the government’s WhatsApp group that Netanyahu had asked that Israel’s views be represented at the hearing, but that “I am not sure that the presence of the former president, Aharon Barak, will promote the correct views on the issue.”

Transportation Minister Miri Regev told Kan News, “I wouldn’t choose [Barak]. He is not in the consensus. …There are other professors, maybe not from the right, who could represent the state.”

However, others in the coalition supported the move. Interior Minister Moshe Arbel of the Shas Party, replying to Eliyahu, saying that Barak’s appointment was a lesson that at the moment of truth and despite differences of opinion, Israel stands united.

Opposition members, including National Unity Party chairman Benny Gantz and Yesh Atid Party chairman Yair Lapid, also supported Barak’s selection.

South Africa filed charges at the ICJ on Dec. 29 that Israel was violating its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (or “Genocide Convention”), to which it is a signatory.

In its application, South Africa said Israel’s acts “are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent…to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry denounced the move, saying, “Israel rejects with disgust the blood libel spread by South Africa and its application to the International Court of Justice.”

Israeli Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Eylon Levy said, “In giving political and legal cover to the Oct. 7 massacre and the Hamas human-shield strategy, South Africa has made itself criminally complicit with Hamas’s campaign of genocide against our people.”

The Biden administration also criticized South Africa. “We find this submission meritless, counterproductive, completely without any basis in fact whatsoever,” U.S. National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby said last week.

Legal observers tell JNS that the court’s decisions are legally binding, but that many nations, including the United States, which have run afoul of the court have ignored its rulings.

The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat is at the Peace Palace in The Hague in the Netherlands. It deals with legal disputes between states, whereas the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutes individuals.

The Gospel According to Berkeley. Meet the Palestinian Jesus.

Tikva International

Israel Daily News – War Day 83, December 28, 2023

ILTV Israel News

Israel Daily News – War Day 82, December 27, 2023

ILTV Israel News