David Clennon, 76, did not submit an audition tape for a Netflix project because of his solidarity with the people of Palestine, despite being out of work for a year and a half
Emmy-winning actor David Clennon has revealed he turned down the chance to appear in a Netflix series from the makers of the award-winning Fauda because of his stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In an op-ed for TruthOut.org, the 76-year-old says he refused to work with creative executive producers Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz despite having been out of work for a year and half.
He explains that he was preparing to film a video to submit as part of the audition process to portray series regular Martin Wexler, described as ‘an American politician, living in New York — “approachable, distinguished, practiced, and elusive” but when he noticed filming would start September 2019 in New York and Tel Aviv, he delved into research.
‘Recently, I was invited to audition for a new Netflix television series with the working title Sycamore.’ Clennon penned. Adding he ‘discovered that Sycamore had to be the new working title of a series announced in 2018 as Hit and Run.’
Avi Issacharoff (L) and Lior Raz are creative executive producers on the Sycamore/Hit and Run project which is scheduled to film in New York and Tel Aviv in September
Explaining that Issacharoff and Raz are also the creator-producers of the Israeli Netflix series Fauda, he said there was a missing narrative element that ‘doesn’t give its international audience the historical context of the conquest of Palestine, which the Palestinian people continue to resist’.
Netflix described Hit and Run as a ‘political espionage thriller series’ where ‘a man’s life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a mysterious accident’.
Clennon adds in the op-ed that whether the show he planned on audition for is as ‘offensive’ as Fauda or not, Israeli production companies ‘stand to benefit enormously from their alliances with their American partners and Netflix’.
‘In addition to substantial revenue for the companies and the Israeli economy, the Israeli government will benefit from the prestige of creative partnerships with Hollywood,’ he writes. ‘These show business relationships matter, politically.’
He criticized the creator-producers of the Israeli Netflix series Fauda (pictured) saying there was a missing narrative element that ‘doesn’t give its international audience the historical context of the conquest of Palestine, which the Palestinian people continue to resist’
He goes on the say he supports the academic and cultural Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign from Palestine while the Israeli Foreign Ministry runs the ‘Brand Israel’ campaign to use culture, entertainment and technology to counter their negative image ‘as a racist state that systematically violates human rights’.
He then compares the conflict between the two territories to the African apartheid.
‘I’ve come to think of Israel as a European settler-colonial state, which practices apartheid in order to control the Indigenous population it has conquered militarily,’ he writes. ‘In this respect, Israel is similar to the previously apartheid state of South Africa, where white European colonists had conquered the Indigenous Black African population and occupied their land.’
Clennon was to be considered to portray an American politician, living in New York and described as ‘approachable, distinguished, practiced, and elusive’ but the actor said Israeli production companies ‘stand to benefit enormously from their alliances with their American partners and Netflix’
Clennon said the Israeli Foreign Ministry runs the ‘Brand Israel’ campaign to use culture, entertainment and technology to counter their negative image ‘as a racist state that systematically violates human rights’
In his explanation for why he chose to miss out on a chance to be part of the project, he shared that he’s a part of a wider network of well-known names – including Stephen Hawking and singer Lorde – who are doing their part to deny ‘Israel the legitimacy and the prestige it seeks in the world community’ .
‘With considerable reluctance, but inspired by the example of so many others, I chose not to participate in the whitewashing of Israel’s image,’ Clennon added. ‘I did not submit a video audition to the casting directors.
‘I’m not a high-profile performer. My refusal to collaborate with Israeli producers will have a negligible effect on this expensive and ambitious project.
‘My decision is just one individual’s act of conscience in solidarity with the Palestinian people — and with dissident Israelis who envision a better future for both peoples.’
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