Keshet/HBO’s ‘Our Boys’ sold to Indonesian TV
Southeast Asian Muslim nation has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel
Our Boys, the television drama created by HBO and Keshet International, has just been sold to several Asian markets, among them Indonesia, the largest predominantly Muslim country in the world, which does not have formal diplomatic ties with Israel.
Our Boys was sold to the Mola TV platform in Indonesia, and the show was already available on the Mola website on Wednesday.
Our Boys was also sold to platforms in Hong Kong and Australia. It has previously been shown on platforms in Europe and Latin America, as well as the US and Israel.
The Hebrew-Arabic series, created by Hagai Levi, Joseph Cedar and Tawfik Abu Wael, is about the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir in Jerusalem by three Jews, following the killings of three Jewish boys by Palestinians, events which fueled the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2014.
The series won 13 Israeli Television Academy Awards in 2019, including Best Drama, Best Directing and Best Script. The series features Shlomi Elkabetz, Johnny Arbid, Ruba Blal, Noa Koler, Lior Ashkenazi and Michael Aloni.
It was criticized by many on the Israeli Right when it was released for not showing the suffering of the three Jewish families who lost their sons. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged viewers to boycott the entire Keshet network because of Our Boys, calling the show “an antisemitic series that is distributed internationally and besmirches the good name of Israel.”
Karni Ziv, the head of drama and comedy at Keshet Media Group, said: “We are happy that a series centered on a tragic human story from the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is able to cross borders and touch the hearts of viewers from all over the world and now, for the first time, Muslim viewers. A good human story has no boundaries.
“We are proud to work with the best Israeli creators and create an Israeli content experience that also turns out to be a universal story.”
Keshet also made a deal to show the Indian version of the Israeli series Prisoners of War on Indonesian television, as well as The Brave, an American military series Keshet produced with Universal that was shown on NBC in America.
It was not clear whether Our Boys would be the first Israeli television series shown in Indonesia; Netflix did not immediately return an email about whether Israeli shows such as Shtisel and Fauda, which have been broadcast by Netflix in many countries, have also been shown there.
The Israeli documentary Forever Pure, by Maya Zinshtein, about anti-Arab fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club, is currently available on the Mola TV website.