Lior Raz, the Israeli ex-commando and Schwarzenegger's former bodyguard, will also give a presentation in Esztergom.

Former Israeli commando, director and actor Lior Raz will be a guest of the MCC Fest. Raz plays the main character, Doron, in Fauda (which means chaos in Arabic), about a squad of Israeli Defense Forces who learn Arabic, adopt Muslim habits, and then blend in with the terrorists (this squad actually exists by the way, Raz is really here served). Fauda is incredibly popular, not only in Israel and the West, but also in the Arab world (although the Arab viewers obviously laugh at the many different accents, just like the Spanish viewers of the Narcos series, where a Brazilian plays Escobar).

He was also Schwarzenegger's bodyguard

For Raz, the Arabic language is of course something he brought from home, since his Jewish parents immigrated to Israel from Iraq and Algeria, and his father also worked in internal defense. His mother tongue is Hebrew, although Raz also spoke Arabic at home with his father and grandmother, as well as with the Arabs who worked on his father's estate. As an adult

 He served for 20 years in an elite unit.

After his military service, he was an employee of a security company in the USA, among others he was Arnold Schwarzenegger's bodyguard. Later, he studied acting in Israel, played in small plays, and also in theaters.

His girlfriend was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assassin

Part of the success of the Fauda series, which has won numerous awards, is its ability to talk about the Israeli-Arab conflict in a way that gives the characters a human face, and yet does not take a stronger position than is expected from an Israeli film. The film breaks taboos, Raz's character, Doron, also has an Arab lover. Compared to this, it is a tragic but eloquent detail that at the age of 19, Raz's girlfriend was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assassin in Jerusalem.

The Arab who stabbed him was later released in a prisoner exchange.

Despite this, Raz is happy about the broken barriers.

“I get emails from all over the world,” Raz said at one point. “One came from Kuwait who said it was the first time he saw Israelis who weren't Nazis. I also got one from a right-wing Israeli who said it was the first time he really felt sympathy for the Palestinian side.”

To this he added that

“I love the Arabs, I love their language and I respect their narrative. Of course I'm Israeli, I'm a Zionist. But I know and can understand that there are other people who have their own opinions and their own lives."

Mandarin

Featured image: IMDb