The Arbitrator (Israeli TV Series)

The Arbitrator (also listed in some databases as The Middle Man) runs approximately 45 minutes per episode and was produced for the HOT cable network.[1][4] Its central premise pairs two men from opposite worlds: Baruch Asulin, the head of a crime family who serves as an underworld arbitrator, and Nadav Feldman, an idealistic social worker whose search for his biological parents pulls him into criminal intrigue.[1] The question of who will ultimately succeed the arbitrator hangs over the plot amid struggles for power and succession.[1]

The series adapts the conventions of the mob drama to distinctively Israeli Jewish life. Its gangsters drink Kiddush wine and eat challah, rivals are buried in Pardes Katz, and characters carry nicknames such as "Ron the Persian" and "Avram Bulldog."[4] A 2007 review compared the series' ingredients to The Sopranos, The Godfather, and a dysfunctional family gathering, characterizing the result as a "silly" but appealing mixture of mob-drama pleasures adapted to an Israeli setting.[4]

The series grew directly from creator Reshef Levi's personal background. In a 2007 interview, Levi revealed that his uncle had worked as an underworld arbitrator, an experience that had long inspired him to explore that world through drama.[5] He and director Shay Kanot developed the concept after completing work together on the series Tik Sagur: a social worker from a conventional world is drawn into the underworld and confronts an unusual arbitrator.[5] Levi described an extensive research process: "I met quite a few criminals and heard stories and rules that are customary in the underworld, so nothing in the series is invented from imagination."[5] He also framed the series as an exploration of violence and whether it originates in environment or genetics.[5]

Kanot later offered a different account of the series' relationship to real life, stating that it was not connected to the Israeli underworld and was based on imagination, films, and Israeli reality rather than any specific story or event.[6] The two accounts reflect the co-creators' distinct perspectives on the line between research and invention.

Moshe Ivgy anchors the series as Baruch Asulin, the patriarch of an Israeli crime family.[1] Yehuda Levi portrays Nadav Feldman, who begins the story as a social-work student and learns he was adopted as a baby; his search for his biological parents, conducted with the help of an ex-girlfriend, becomes one of the series' central mysteries.[4] Shlomi Koriat plays Avi "the Spleen" Asulin.[1]

Other principal cast members listed by EDB include Hanna Azoulay Hasfari, Maya Maron, Ania Bukstein, and Lirit Balaban.[1] Neta Gerty appeared in the early episodes as Avi's mistress.[4] By the fourth season, Yon Tomarkin and Rotem Sela had joined the cast.[2]

The series opens at the bar mitzvah of Oz Asulin, Baruch's youngest son, an event that draws together the family's loyalties and fractures in a single scene.[4] An early dramatic set piece has Baruch hospitalized after a failed assassination attempt in a traditional Syrian-style synagogue, during which he defends himself with a pair of bejeweled Torah crowns.[4] The identity of Nadav Feldman's biological parents was still unresolved in the early episodes reviewed.[4]

The third season concluded with Nadav learning that Yigal "the Nazi" might be his biological father rather than Baruch Asulin.[7] A review of the finale highlighted a sequence in which Baruch and Nadav quietly celebrate the circumcision of Baruch's grandson while his loyal assistant Bulldog carries out a revenge mission against those who had tried to dismantle the family's empire. The scene was accompanied by Shlomi Saranga performing "Ha'amnam," a song by Leah Goldberg.[8] The reviewer described it as an iconic, near-wordless television moment that combined family ritual and revenge while encapsulating the season's balance of entertainment and drama.[8]

A review described the fourth-season premiere as slower, with extended attention to fatherhood and a storyline in which Nadav disappears after confronting the possibility that Yigal "the Nazi" is his father.[7][2] Police wiretaps, a chain of possible fathers and sons caught in mutual danger, and Avi "the Spleen" Asulin hearing voices and attempting suicide were among the season's early developments.[7]

By June 2010, FOX was reported to be in advanced negotiations to acquire production rights for an American version of the series.[9] Sopranos writers Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov were expected to collaborate on the adaptation alongside original creators Reshef Levi and Shay Kanot.[9] At the time, two Israeli seasons had aired and production of a third was underway.[9]

Levi was cautious about the prospects, noting that no pilot had yet been produced and that even a series that reached air could be canceled within a few episodes.[9] He recounted that an American agent who had initially questioned the need for another crime drama watched the entire first season overnight and requested the second by the following morning.[9] The available sources do not confirm that the adaptation was ultimately produced.

In 2008, the series received multiple nominations from the Israeli Academy of Film and Television for programming broadcast between April 1, 2007, and March 31, 2008.[10] Moshe Ivgy was nominated for best drama actor, Shay Kanot for best drama-series director, and Reshef and Regev Levi for best drama-series script. The series itself was nominated for best drama series.[10]

The show's reach also extended beyond award recognition. Google's 2013 year-end data listed its fourth season among television programs for which Israeli users sought information, while television critics had dubbed the crime drama "The Sopranos" of the Jewish state.[3]

Two aspects of the series' background carried some public ambiguity. Creator Reshef Levi stated that his uncle was a real underworld arbitrator and that his research involved direct contact with criminals, while co-creator Shay Kanot described the series as imaginative in origin and not connected to the Israeli underworld.[5][6] The two accounts are not necessarily irreconcilable: Levi's claims concern personal background and research, while Kanot's concern the fictionality of the narrative. Nevertheless, they were offered as contrasting characterizations of the same project.

During production of the second season, the real-life killing of Jacob Alperon occurred a few kilometers from the set in Tel Aviv.[6] Kanot, who said he had known Alperon personally through the reality series Pa'am BaHayyim, recalled hearing an explosion and seeing ambulances; filming paused briefly before continuing.[6] Kanot confirmed that the killing would not be incorporated into the second season's script, though he described the event as deeply sad and remarked that "sometimes, as in this case, reality is much stronger than the series."[6]

Whether the series would end with its fourth season was not definitively settled during production. A 2013 report said that the creators had completed filming the fourth season, which it described as "probably also the last," rather than confirming that the series would end there.[11]