Will harm Israel? It has been a short time since the release of Netflix’s documentary about “Tinder crook” Simon Leviev – and it has already climbed to number one in the media giant’s viewing table with 46 million hours of cumulative viewing worldwide. Now, there are those who fear that Netflix’s hit will also cause an increase in antisemitic and anti-Israel attitudes.The film tells the story of the victims who tell how Leviev, whose original name is Shimon Hayut, deceived them and fraudulently took out hundreds of thousands of euros. Therefore, many may see him as bringing a bad name to Israel – a country where deceitful crooks, stinging women who lived at the expense of the Gentiles, are easily returned to the bosom of society and are quickly released from prison.
His story ignited a wave of anti-Semitism? Simon Leviev | Photo: simon___levlev___official, instagram
“The Tinder crook is sitting on some very, very anti-Semitic myth rooted in Europe that has been seen in cartoons for 200 years,” explains Eitan Schwartz, head of communications at the Tel Aviv municipality. “Of some Jew disguised as something else and he seduces innocent Christians. Many times in cartoons they are whitish with blond hair and he is black. This frame has been sitting in European anti-Semitism for many, many years and there is a situation that probably resonates with something known in Europe for generations.”
About two weeks ago, we published in “Ulpan Shishi” the words of Leviev’s victims, just before the film came out. “He was smart, funny and very impulsive,” they said. But then they remembered what they had discovered the hard way: “The man I loved was never real.”
