Netflix Under Fire for Streaming “Blood Libel” Movie

Netflix is currently facing criticism for promoting a movie that’s been accused of spreading blood libels about Israeli soldiers’ treatment of Palestinians.

The Jordanian film, “Farha,” was released on the platform on December 1. Yoseph Haddad, an Israeli-Arab activist, tweeted that the movie depicts Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers as “murdering and slaughtering without mercy” even though “the exact opposite is true.” “They took the character of a Palestinian girl and built a plot around her and present her as a version of Anne Frank when the IDF soldiers are the Nazis,” Haddad wrote, adding that one scene shows Israeli soldiers “a family against the wall and shoot them. An IDF soldier steals gold earrings from the mother and then shoots her. A commander tells a soldier who of course wears a kippa (to highlight the Jewish symbol) to kill a baby but not waste a bullet on him.”

Haddad concluded: “Brutal scenes that any person without a clue about the truth who sees it will become a definite Israel hater. This is a blood libel that will certainly increase antisemitism and incitement against Israel. If you haven’t canceled your Netflix subscription yet – do it now!”

>>>What's even more crazy is that they took the character of a Palestinian girl and built a plot around her and present her as a version of Anne Frank when the IDF soldiers are the Nazis.
What else is going on in this shocking movie? >>> pic.twitter.com/SxEgpED0cW

— יוסף חדאד – Yoseph Haddad (@YosephHaddad) December 2, 2022

>>>Brutal scenes that any person without a clue about the truth who sees it will become a definite Israel hater.
This is a blood libel that will certainly increase antisemitism and incitement against Israel.
If you haven't canceled your Netflix subscription yet – do it now! pic.twitter.com/qPO0OwlpS6

— יוסף חדאד – Yoseph Haddad (@YosephHaddad) December 2, 2022

Two Israeli ministers have also denounced the film. “It’s crazy that Netflix decided to stream a movie whose whole purpose is to create a false pretense and incite against Israeli soldiers,” Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman said in a statement, per The Times of Israel. Culture Minister Chili Tropper also alleged that the movie promulgated “lies and libels.”

End Jew Hatred also echoed the sentiment that the movie spreads blood libels, describing the film as “harmful propaganda targeting Jews” in a statement. “Netflix chose (it was under no obligation to do so) to give a platform to a movie that feeds the cycle of hatred and violence that’s tearing our society apart, at precisely the moment in history when even the American President recognizes the danger of giving a platform to hatred,” the statement read. “We know what happens when we give a platform to the most depraved and vile voices in society. We create a self-sustaining cycle of hatred and violence that tears us apart. The more we indulge Jew-hatred and let it infiltrate our society, the more it takes root.”

Fox Business reported that various pro-Palestinian Twitter accounts have praised the movie as accurately depicting the Nakba (catastrophe), the Palestinian view on the creation of Israel in 1948. 

Netflix declined to comment on the matter. Sources close to the situation say that the film is small and unbranded and that Netflix has more than 100 Israeli movies and shows on the platform. In June, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos visited a Jerusalem film school and expressed a desire to find “local, authentic stories.”