'The Boys' faces boycott as star Tomer Capone’s past in Israeli army resurfaces
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Wed, 04/15/2026 - 13:03
The actor described his time in the Israeli military, including violence against Palestinians, in a 2016 interview
Tomer Capone attends the panel for Amazon Prime's 'The Boys' at San Diego Comic Con in 2024 (Matt Winklemeyer/AFP)
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Calls to boycott the popular Amazon Prime TV show The Boys are circulating on social media after an interview with actor Tomer Capone resurfaced in which he describes his time in the Israeli army.
The Israeli actor, who is of French-Algerian descent, plays a French-Algerian character known as "Frenchie" in the series.
Cast as a bad-boy type with a dark past trying to do good, he soon became a popular character among audiences.
Prior to starring in the series, Capone made his name in a number of popular Israeli dramas, including the controversial Fauda, a hit show about an undercover unit of the Israeli army operating in the occupied West Bank.
In an interview with the Israeli media outlet Ynet in 2016, the actor detailed his personal life, including his time as a soldier in the Israeli army after being enlisted in 2004.
The call to boycott the show was led by a user on X after they shared translated excerpts of the interview.
'Pushing, cursing, and we grab her and drive off'
In one section, Capone describes a raid on a family home in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank in Palestine, in which the aim was to arrest a young woman. He said “the family does not let their 18-year-old daughter out easily, and a struggle begins. Pushing, cursing, and we grab her and drive off.
"We arrive, we take her out of the car, she is zip-tied... Her eyes are of course covered with flannel. I bring her into the room, put her in and see eight other girls inside who look more or less the same." After this experience, he said he "just fell apart".
He also described refusing a father entry through the Huwwara checkpoint in Nablus, who was trying to reach a hospital with his sick daughter, “because they announced not to let anyone through”.
Don't stream The Boys.Don't give money to an IDF terrorist.Tomer Capone should be on trial for war crimes, not on your TV screen. https://t.co/sFaj9Cag3n pic.twitter.com/G65j8IAEWZ— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) April 13, 2026
He also talked of his time as a commander during a “week-long operation” in Nablus in which another soldier fired a bullet towards children throwing stones.
In another section, he describes what he calls "pranks" at checkpoints, where "someone is transporting fruit, so you disassemble his entire truck and you cut open all of his watermelons, just for fun".
Following his time in the army, he later told the interviewer that he “lost it”. Friends of his feel the same, after what they did "made them go crazy" he said, adding "I'm just like that."
He accused Israeli politicians of being “only interested in their personal needs,” for which soldiers are “paying the price”.
He added that after leaving the army he realised that he had been “a puppet on a string to serve something”.
'Commentary falls flat'
The premiere of the show’s fifth season was released on 8 April, stirring the discussion as episodes are released weekly on Amazon’s online streaming platform.
The show is famed for its commentary on American politics, specifically for its dramatic, often explicit, satirical depictions of right–wing figures as it tackles the rise of modern authoritarianism framed through a power struggle between people with super-human capabilities who abuse their power for personal gain and a set of vigilantes who reject their control.
Some users discussed whether the messaging of a show that highlights the dangers of fascism and human rights abuses is compatible with the decision to cast an Israeli ex-soldier in a main role.
One X user posted: "All of the boys’ attempts at leftwing social commentary fall flat bcz they have an idf soldier on the cast."
Translation: This turned out to be a Zionist criminal, and he admitted himself that he kidnapped a Palestinian girl from her family when he was with the Zionist army. I swear to God, I hated the whole series. They brought in an Israeli to play the role of a French guy instead of just getting a regular French person. May God burn him for what he did in Palestine.
"The show about the rise of modern fascism hired an ex IDF soldier as one of its main cast members. Can't make this shit up," said another.
Other users on X argued that the show failed to engage with a major aspect of American politics by not incorporating the links between Washington and Israel.
The show that’s supposed to be a parody of America anytime you ask them to criticize Israel https://t.co/qV52W1gWhw pic.twitter.com/5msEWcOclk— MAD CRAB 🦀🇭🇷🇵🇸 (@bigmadcrab) April 15, 2026
Capone shared a quote to his personal instagram story on 14 April, which some took to be an implicit response to the discussion surrounding the interview.
Screenshot from Capone's instagram story.
Middle East Eye reached out to Capone for comment, but he did not respond by the time of publication.
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