"You belong in Gaza": Fauda star Mouna Hawa sparks outrage at Haifa performance

Mouna Hawa, the Israeli actress celebrated for her role in the hit series Fauda and her Ophir Award victory, stepped back into the spotlight last night with a performance in Haifa—her first since igniting a firestorm with statements denying Hamas’s October 7 atrocities. The event, however, was overshadowed by a tense confrontation with social activist Mor Sha’al, who attended the show and later publicly rebuked Hawa, telling her, “You should be in Gaza, not in the State of Israel.”

Sha’al, a vocal advocate for Israeli identity, detailed her experience in an interview on Story Layla with host Yehuda Schlesinger. She recounted securing a front-row seat at the Haifa theater, determined to witness Hawa’s return firsthand. “I wanted to see who shows up, what kind of performance this is,” Sha’al explained. What she encountered, she described as “horrific”—a show that, in her view, ridiculed Israeli identity, Jewish heritage, and biblical narratives. “She made us a laughingstock,” Sha’al said, her frustration palpable. As the performance concluded, she confronted Hawa directly, questioning how the actress could justify earning a livelihood in Israel given her controversial stance. “Are you not ashamed?” she added, addressing not just Hawa but the broader system allowing her return to the stage.

The roots of this clash trace back to Hawa’s statements last year, which erupted across social media and drew widespread condemnation. In an Instagram exchange, Hawa dismissed reports of Hamas’s brutal acts—including beheadings and sexual violence—as unproven “propaganda” designed to garner sympathy for Israel. She responded to a former classmate from Beit Zvi acting school, who had challenged her over the kidnapped babies and raped women, with a blunt denial: “They didn’t rape or behead. There’s no proof that’s what happened—it’s propaganda to make the world sympathize with you.”

Hawa also shared a post accusing Israel of cutting off water to 2.2 million Palestinians, warning of “hundreds of thousands of deaths from dehydration” unless the “apartheid regime” relented. The conversation was quickly deleted, but screenshots preserved by her classmate and first reported by journalist Eran Swisa ensured the remarks lived on in infamy.

The Haifa performance, held in a city known for its diverse population, drew a mixed crowd of Jews and Arabs—a detail Sha’al found particularly galling. “They sat there laughing, not realizing they were the ones being mocked,” she told Schlesinger. She painted a picture of an audience unwittingly complicit in what she saw as an assault on national values, arguing that Hawa’s return represented a broader failure to hold public figures accountable. “They rely on us being a nation that forgets,” Sha’al said, referencing the collective trauma of October 7. “But after that day, we’ve stopped forgetting. We won’t let her make a living here—it’s not going to happen.”

Hawa’s reappearance on stage marks a defiant step after months of relative silence following the initial backlash. Her career, once a point of pride for Israeli cinema, has become a lightning rod, with supporters defending her right to free expression and critics decrying her as a symbol of unchecked provocation. The Haifa show, described by Sha’al as a deliberate jab at the nation’s core, has only deepened this divide. While the specifics of the performance’s content remain debated, its timing—amid ongoing regional tensions—amplifies its resonance.

For Sha’al, the confrontation was personal but also emblematic of a larger struggle. “This was her first time back after those outrageous statements,” she noted, underscoring her determination to challenge what she sees as a betrayal of Israel’s resilience. With the fallout from this Haifa night still lingering, Sha'al has vowed to push back.

Channel 14 contributed to this article.