Hahartzufim, the Israeli equivalent of the UK's satirical puppet show Spitting Image, recently reached the finals of the Emmy Awards for the best non-English language TV program in the leisure and entertainment category. This was only the second time ever that an Israeli series had reached the final stage of the prestigious US annual TV awards.
by Simon Griver
Given the sensitivities of Israeli society, it is surprising that Hahartzufim, with its irreverent satirical wit, ever made it onto Israel's TV screens.
But over the past five years, viewers have consistently tuned in to the program in large numbers. With 118 programs and five seasons already under its belt, Hahartzufim opened its sixth season at the end of November 1999.
"Some people love Hahartzufim and some people hate it," says Moni Brosh, spokesman for Tel-Ad, which broadcasts the program on commercial television. "But in a democracy, people have the right to express satirical opinions and Israel has a tradition of no-holds barred' political satire."
It seems that the adage of Oscar Wilde, that if there is one thing worse than being talked about, it is not being talked about, is as true today as it was a century ago. While politicians and their supporters often protest about their rough treatment at the hands of the series' team of scriptwriters, its an even greater insult for a politician not to have a puppet, claims Brosh.
"I think we are more pressured to create new puppets of spurned politicians," he observes, "than we are about our barbs."
Another surprising aspect of Hahartzufim was a survey conducted two years ago, which found that the most popular puppets among viewers were then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. Indeed, the opening frame of the last series included a chorus of all the program's puppets, including the Arafat lookalike, singing a jingoistic refrain about Israel's achievements in 50 years of independence.
Brosh rejects the suggestion that the program had a bias against former Prime Minister Netanyahu. "The new series will be just as merciless regarding Prime Minister Barak's policies," he says. "Inevitably, the program is harsher with the government than with the opposition, because it is the government that is implementing policies."
The puppets in the new series include all of Israel's leading politicians, as well as Chairman Arafat and U.S. President Clinton. Just to demonstrate that Hahartzufim means business, this series will see five new puppets making their debut, four of them members of Mr. Barak's newly formed government and Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg. Mr. Netanyahu, who has retired from political life, will be featured only rarely, and gone altogether will be the gossiping cockroaches from under Mrs. Netanyahu's sink.