Netflix says it invests in several original Israeli series, yet content creators warn 'industry in crisis'

The streaming content giant Netflix told news outlet The Times of Israel last week that it invests in original Hebrew-speaking content from Israel. In 2024, Netflix produced and released “Bros,” (Hebrew title is “Through Fire and Water”), its first Hebrew-language original series.

The series was filmed in Ukraine, Israel and Georgia and premiered in April 2024. It follows two friends from Jerusalem who receive shocking news and attempt to escape their problems by traveling to a soccer game in Krakow, Poland.

Furthermore, Netflix has selected new original Israeli productions for 2025, including the second season of the popular thriller "The Girl from Oslo," Ron Leshem’s "Bad Boy," the Keshet series "Trust No One," and "Off-Road," an Israeli project starring Lior Raz, with Avi Issacharoff as a creative partner.

Raz and Issacharoff are the creators of the hit Israeli counterterrorism series "Fauda," in which Raz plays the lead role of counter-terrorism operative Doron.

Netflix appeared to respond to calls from Israeli screenwriters and executives to increase investment in the local Israeli content industry. In recent years, Israel has successfully exported popular series such as Fauda, Tehran and Shtisel.

However, in a recent letter to Netflix officials, prominent Israeli content creators warned that the local industry was in crisis and could collapse without additional funding.

“The local Israeli industry is shrinking by tens of millions of shekels annually. Soon there will be nothing left for you to buy and broadcast, soon there won’t be second seasons to invest in. We are a cultural industry in the midst of a severe crisis, and Netflix, despite its good intentions, despite not being the main wrongdoer, and despite its investments in the Israeli market, is part of the problem,” the letter stated. 

Lior Tamam, CEO of the Screenwriters Guild and co-signatory of the letter, emphasized the need for regulation that would protect the small Israeli content market. 

“The Israeli industry won’t exist if there is no regulation,” Tamam warned. “We’re not like the American market that has no regulatory framework. That market doesn’t need regulation because it’s so big and has investment,” he continued. 

Netflix is already a partner in the Jerusalem-based Sam Speigel School Series Lab, an initiative to facilitate the development of original Israeli series by connecting local students with industry professionals. 

Many smaller European Union member states are facing similar challenges due to limited local budgets. Netflix recently said that only eight of the 27 European Union states currently have investment obligations.

The streaming giant argued that flexible regulatory environments are more efficient tools in attracting investments for local original language productions. 

While usually lacking a large budget, Israeli productions have often been hailed for their innovation and original content. 

Last January, Fauda co-creator Avi Issacharoff confirmed that the upcoming fifth season of the popular series would include references to the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and the war between the terrorist organization Hamas and the Jewish state. 

“Some people will be able to ignore it [the war] but we can’t; we will have to write the war in, in some way,” Issacharoff said.