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‘Fauda’ creators debut ‘Ghosts of Beirut,’ Showtime series about Mossad’s killing of master terrorist
(JTA) — A new Showtime series from the creators of “Fauda” chronicles the exploits of one of the Middle East’s most infamous terrorists and the joint CIA-Mossad operation that eventually led to his death.
“Ghosts of Beirut,” a four-episode series that begins streaming for Showtime subscribers on Friday but premieres on air Sunday night, dramatizes the rise and impact of Imad Mughniyeh but also includes “documentary elements.” The former Hezbollah leader is accused of planning international attacks starting in the 1980s that killed hundreds if not thousands, including the 1992 Israeli embassy bombing in Buenos Aires. Mughniyeh was also central in the rise of the number of suicide bombings around the world.
The agencies that tracked him, such as the CIA and Israel’s Mossad, nicknamed him “Ghost” because of his ability to elude capture. He was killed by a car bomb in Syria in 2008.
“Fauda” creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff created the series, which also lists Daniel Dreifuss — a Jewish producer who talked to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about his recent remake of “All Quiet on the Western Front” — as an executive producer. It stars Dermot Mulroney and Dina Shihabi, known for a starring role in the action series “Jack Ryan.”
Greg Barker, who directed all four episodes, told Jewish Insider that he and a team of journalists talked to CIA and Mossad operatives as research before the show’s filming.
He added that the show explores the “friendly” rivalry between the two agencies, which for decades have often worked in tandem on Middle East operations, including some involving Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group that carries out and funds terrorist activity around the world. Raz and Issacharoff drew on their own experience in the Israel Defense Forces in writing “Fauda,” a Netflix hit that follows IDF soldiers searching for a Hamas mastermind.
“I’ve heard about that tension in the friendly relationship for years, and from people in both services,” Barker said. “It was an interesting way of unpacking what these sort of friendly relationships are like from the inside, and what they tell us about the different priorities, the different methods, of both of these different intelligence services, but also of the countries.”
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The post ‘Fauda’ creators debut ‘Ghosts of Beirut,’ Showtime series about Mossad’s killing of master terrorist appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Tucker’s Ideas About Jews Come from Darkest Corners of the Internet, Says Huckabee After Combative Interview
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a combative interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, right-wing firebrand Tucker Carlson made a host of contentious and often demonstrably false claims that quickly went viral online. Huckabee, who repeatedly challenged the former Fox News star during the interview, subsequently made a long post on X, identifying a pattern of bad-faith arguments, distortions and conspiracies in Carlson’s rhetorical style.
Huckabee pointed out his words were not accorded by Carlson the same degree of attention and curiosity the anchor evinced toward such unsavory characters as “the little Nazi sympathizer Nick Fuentes or the guy who thought Hitler was the good guy and Churchill the bad guy.”
“What I wasn’t anticipating was a lengthy series of questions where he seemed to be insinuating that the Jews of today aren’t really same people as the Jews of the Bible,” Huckabee wrote, adding that Tucker’s obsession with conspiracies regarding the provenance of Ashkenazi Jews obscured the fact that most Israeli Jews were refugees from the Arab and Muslim world.
The idea that Ashkenazi Jews are an Asiatic tribe who invented a false ancestry “gained traction in the 80’s and 90’s with David Duke and other Klansmen and neo-Nazis,” Huckabee wrote. “It has really caught fire in recent years on the Internet and social media, mostly from some of the most overt antisemites and Jew haters you can find.”
Carlson branded Israel “probably the most violent country on earth” and cited the false claim that Israel President Isaac Herzog had visited the infamous island of the late, disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘pedo island.’ That’s what it says,” Carlson said, citing a debunked claim made by The Times reporter Gabrielle Weiniger. “Still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes, so I think you’d be following this.”
Another misleading claim made by Carlson was that there were more Christians in Qatar than in Israel.
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Pezeshkian Says Iran Will Not Bow to Pressure Amid US Nuclear Talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country would not bow its head to pressure from world powers amid nuclear talks with the United States.
“World powers are lining up to force us to bow our heads… but we will not bow our heads despite all the problems that they are creating for us,” Pezeshkian said in a speech carried live by state TV.
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Italy’s RAI Apologizes after Latest Gaffe Targets Israeli Bobsleigh Team
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Bobsleigh – 4-man Heat 1 – Cortina Sliding Centre, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – February 21, 2026. Adam Edelman of Israel, Menachem Chen of Israel, Uri Zisman of Israel, Omer Katz of Israel in action during Heat 1. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Italy’s state broadcaster RAI was forced to apologize to the Jewish community on Saturday after an off‑air remark advising its producers to “avoid” the Israeli crew was broadcast before coverage of the Four-Man bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics.
The head of RAI’s sports division had already resigned earlier in the week after his error-ridden commentary at the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony two weeks ago triggered a revolt among its journalists.
On Saturday, viewers heard “Let’s avoid crew number 21, which is the Israeli one” and then “no, because …” before the sound was cut off.
RAI CEO Giampaolo Rossi said the incident represented a “serious” breach of the principles of impartiality, respect and inclusion that should guide the public broadcaster.
He added that RAI had opened an internal inquiry to swiftly determine any responsibility and any potential disciplinary procedures.
In a separate statement RAI’s board of directors condemned the remark as “unacceptable.”
The board apologized to the Jewish community, the athletes involved and all viewers who felt offended.
RAI is the country’s largest media organization and operates national television, radio and digital news services.
The union representing RAI journalists, Usigrai, had said Paolo Petrecca’s opening ceremony commentary had dealt “a serious blow” to the company’s credibility.
His missteps included misidentifying venues and public figures, and making comments about national teams that were widely criticized.