A’mr Waked Appears on Israeli Television in “House of Saddam”

Israeli channels have begun airing controversial television show “House of Saddam” in which A’mr Waked assumes a leading role alongside Israeli actor Yigal Naor. The series is aired in English and depicts the life of the former Iraqi president all the way from his first assuming power in 1979 to his execution in 2006. Saddam Hussein is portrayed by Israeli actor Yigal Naor while Iranian-American actress Shohreh Aghdashloo portrays Saddam’s wife Sajdeh. Actor A’mr Waked assumes the role of Hussein Kamal who was the husband of one of Saddam’s daughters. Furthermore, Israeli actor Uri Gavriel plays minister of defense A’ly Hassan Al Majid while Moroccan actor Sa’eed Da’maei portrays Saddam Hussein’s step-brother Barzan Al Tikritti. Finally, Palestinian actor Makram Khoury plays Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. The show is a mini-series composed of four episodes, it was produced by the BBC and HBO in 2008.Worthy of mention is the fact that A’mr Waked’s participation was controversial as he was accused of in effect engaging in normalization with Israel by taking part in the show. Waked has defended himself against such accusations, asserting that he did not know the nationalities of the other actors before signing his contract. By the time he had signed his contract Waked maintains that it would have been too late to withdraw as doing so would have incurred a heavy financial penalty.