Best Israeli thriller movies

When a couple of American young adults fly to Israel to visit the city of Jerusalem, a biblical nightmare falls upon the city.

Tel Aviv, Israel. The twisted paths of three very different men brutally collide due to a chain of unspeakable murders: a grieving father who has been doomed to seek vengeance and a police detective who boldly crosses the narrow boundary between law and crime meet a religion teacher suspected of being the murderer.

When a devious plot separates CIA agent Peter Sandza from his son, Robin, the distraught father manages to see through the ruse. Taken because of his psychic abilities, Robin is being held by Ben Childress, who is studying people with supernatural powers in hopes of developing their talents as weapons. Soon Peter pairs up with Gillian, a teen who has telekinesis, to find and rescue Robin.

Two young men — a Palestinian grad student and an Israeli lawyer — meet and fall in love amidst personal and political intrigue.

Bethlehem tells the story of the unlikely bond between Razi, an Israeli secret service officer, and his Palestinian informant Sanfur, the younger brother of a senior Palestinian militant. Razi recruited Sanfur when he was just 15, and developed a very close, almost fatherly relationship to him. Now 17, Sanfur tries to navigate between Razi’s demands and his loyalty to his brother, living a double life and lying to both men. Co-written by director Yuval Adler and Ali Waked—an Arab journalist who spent years in the West Bank—Bethlehem gives an unparalleled, moving and authentic portrait of the complex reality behind the news.

A depiction of the lead-up to the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin through the worldview of his assassin, Yigal Amir.

Mike Anderson, a tough American reporter on a dangerous foreign assignment, finds his own life in jeopardy when he uncovers a deadly labyrinth of political intrigue that threatens the lives of thousands. Dispatched to investigate a mysterious and fatal attack on an overseas US naval base, Anderson, a leading investigative journalist and ex-US marine, finds himself back on familiar ground. Instinct makes him question the official CIA explanation that cites an unknown terrorist group called Black October. Alone, and armed only with his combat training and determination to uncover the truth, he sets out to expose a complex and dangerous political web.

In July 1976, an Air France flight from Tel-Aviv to Paris via Athens was hijacked and forced to land in Entebbe, Uganda. The Jewish passengers were separated and held hostage in demand to release many terrorists held in Israeli prisons. After much debate, the Israeli government sent an elite commando unit to raid the airfield and release the hostages.

One night, one apartment and one mystery. Shir wakes up in the middle of the night. Her husband hasn’t come back after taking the dog out. The dog has. But where is Rami? Friends, relatives, neighbours and police come round and with each visit more marital secrets are revealed.

A failed businessman must kill himself to pay off a loan shark or his family will die, but a detective discovers the case turns on a shocking secret.

28-year-old Guy and his best friend, Joy, are enjoying the gay pride parade to the fullest when their bliss is abruptly put to an end by a deadly shooting that occurs during the event. Fleeing the scene into the safety of Guy’s home, they take along a fellow pride goer, Dan, who seems to be in shock. With the shooter still on the run, Guy and Dan fall into a night full of sex, drugs and paranoia.

Meow is a young woman roaming the streets and nightclubs of Tel Aviv. She lives in empty apartments and surfs the internet chat rooms. She decides to meet Alex, her chat buddy. They plan to meet in a nightclub but a suicide bombing prevents their meeting. She survives the attack and after she finds Alex in the hospital, in a coma, she moves into his empty apartment. Gradually, the tenants start referring to her as Alex, and as she assumes his identity, she finds herself sinking into a dangerous and deluded reality.

The year is 1964. Rachel Brener is one of 3 young Mossad agents teem who caught "THE SURGEON OF BIRKENAU" - a Nazi monster who was never brought to trial in Israel. The official reason was that he was shot to death while trying to escape from Israeli captivity in a safe house somewhere in Europe. 30 years after, the well communicated death story of the monster could be questionable, a small article appears in a local unimportant paper in a small town in Ukraine. Surprisingly the Surgeon is ALIVE and is willing to admit his crimes against the human race and especially the Jews. The 3 older x Mossad agents who are in their late 60th became aware to this unfortunate threatening knowledge. The fact was that the "Surgeon" managed to escape from his guards 30 years ago.

The Ohaion family is mourning the death of one of their relatives. In keeping with tradition, they gather together in the home of the deceased and stay there for seven days. Forced to put up with one another day and night, the brothers and sisters soon let their bitterness and arguments override the sense of communal reverence. The atmosphere becomes unbearable and long-buried truths finally surface.

Matan arrives in a crime neighborhood after his father goes bankrupt and loses their home.

The life of Avihao (Morris Cohen), a television personality with an excessively big mouth, is getting more and more complicated: his mother Sarah (Levna Finkelstein) stopped talking, fell into complete silence and his father does not understand why. Aviv (Oshari Cohen), his beloved former student, unexpectedly becomes the leading candidate in the prime ministerial elections even though no one knows what he has to say. He doesn't give interviews, doesn't talk, doesn't give speeches - he just stays silent all the way to victory, a silence that challenges Avihao to the point of risking his career and his family.

Katya, a crane worker, receives a tempting work proposition. She leaves Alex, her 11-year-old son, to babysit his brother. When a storm breaks out, Alex starts to worry.

Four young kids who live in a village of military officers families, form a small gang. An old abandoned army base, located in the surrounding fields, turns into their camp. A war begins and most men are drafted. When the kids return to their camp they discover two soldiers who deserted their units, using their camp as a hideout...

Six days in the lives of an Israeli living in a kibbutz and a Palestinian living in Paris, which starts with an accidental meeting in the Berlin Subway during the World cup finals, will change them completely.

Uri, a 50 year old family man, has a romantic secret relationship with Oded, a young man from their small town in the south of Israel. During a trip in the desert, the two are forced to deal with the tragic consequences of their type of relationship.

Cursed by a Bedouin woman, three young soldiers on a training exercise in the desert slowly descend into madness and turn on each other as the unforgiving landscape plays tricks with their minds.

An eighty-year-old man's body is found with three stab wounds to the chest and a number tattooed along his forearm. Amnon, a police detective and second generation Holocaust survivor, is reluctantly assigned to the case. As the plot weaves between the past and present, their stories unfold.

Lara is Palestinian and lives in London. She has everything she wants in her life: a husband, a son and a beautiful house in one of the best areas of the city. Nevertheless, her everyday life appears cold and grey, only brightened up by surreptitious sips of vodka. But one day, Inam, a sensual, resolute girl, knocks on her door. Lara seems to be transported back to her adolescence when she and Inam were close friends, and studied together in Ramallah. In Lara's astonished eyes we see a mixture of fear and desire towards the woman whom she had lost sight of. A deceptive tangle of memories which a trauma, a love affair and an experience with two Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem an re-surface. From a gripping, well structured emotional thriller that traces back their memories through recurrent flashbacks that take us to the West Bank in 1994, during the Intifada.

Shlomi, a young Israeli soldier, flees back to his girlfriend in Tel Aviv only to discover that the military elite is convinced he was kidnapped in the fog of war.

A comedy-thriller created by mixing ISIS operatives, tough Mossad agents and a unique relationship between two young Muslim guys in the most rainbow-colored, song contest imaginable. Was previously a miniseries, now edited into a feature film for the festival circuit.

Far from Tel Aviv and big city crimes, Daphna, 40, a promising police officer with a big mouth, finds herself in the small town of Afula dealing with petty crimes, seeking shade from the scorching heat and dodging the nagging question:” When are you going to get married, and have kids?”. The disappearance of Orly Elimeleh, a beautiful and wild 36 year-old army widow and former beauty queen, soon raises another troubling question for Daphna – why isn't anybody looking for her? This indifference towards Orly’s uncertain fate shakes Daphna to the core. Matan, the younger 34 year-old son and “black sheep” of Orly’s late husband’s family, seems to be the only one who shares Daphna’s concerns, which pushes her to step beyond her professional boundaries. As her faith both in herself and in everybody surrounding her is called into question, Daphna will have to do something she has managed to avoid her entire adult life : put her trust in a man.

Galia, a young 27 year old woman injured in the bombing of a bus in Jerusalem, will start searching for the man who saved her life. A journey that will reveal to her an unsuspected truth.

After being called for his mandatory yearly Israeli army reserve duty, Arik Schwartzman finds himself looking for a uniform wearing serial rapist. He is aided by Natalie, a young female soldier who looks for her lost father.

Two women meet by chance and discover they were both raped by rapist. Individually and together they must confront the past and finally integrate the long repressed trauma into their lives.

Goldberg is short and thin. He wears glasses. He's lonely. He's a mediocre computer programmer that lives in Tel Aviv and spends most of his energy searching online for a girlfriend. His only friend is Audrey, his beloved female dog. Eisenberg is a thug. Tall, fat, approaching middle age and not completely sane. He spends his days slouching around Meir Park, harassing innocent bystanders and doing business with petty thieves and small-time criminals. Unfortunately the two cross paths, and Eisenberg decides that they should start hanging out. But something in his demeanor says that he wants to be much more than just friends...This is a story about random meetings with strangers that lead to anxiety and paranoia. About lonely people in the big city. About losing control.

Rachel Strode, a young immigrant with a dark secret in her past, comes to Israel in the Fall of 1973 to volunteer in a Kibbutz and then to convert to Judaism. Soon, she realizes that the local Kibbutz members don't seem to like strangers and foreigners, and that the evening of Yom Kippur (the most important holiday for Jews), will bring danger to her and her young volunteering friends. What begins as a time of fun and the celebration of youth turns into a menacing and bloody night of terror, which will give a new meaning to Yom Kippur of 1973.

The story takes place in August 1991, when in the former USSR there was an unsuccessful attempt of a political coup led by the Soviet intelligence services and the Soviet Union collapsed. However, this political struggle is only a background for dramatic events that occurred with the main characters of the film in a Soviet government villa in Crimea, where they were spending their summer holidays. The nightmare of their relationship reflects present and future nightmares of their country.

The journey of 3-year-old Tomy into the magical clown-world beyond his bedroom-wall and his struggle to come back in one piece.

Joseph is mentally deviated. He is a prisoner of his own flat and always in permanent war with his own mind.

Upon arriving Israel on her first foreign assignment, American photojournalist Faye Milano is greeted by David, an Israeli officer and writer who's also the nephew of Jerusalem's mayor

Alex Abramov is Mossad secret agent looking after some bad guys. He falls in love with young music student Thea, but can not reveal himself and sends her gifts secretly. Thea first thinks that it must be another student, G.R., who sends gifts, and bad guys, knowing about Alex's feelings towards Thea, attack G.R. by mistake.

Filmed & Directed by Rami Katzav. Shot on 16mm Kodak film& Bolex camera.

This 1990s film from Israel focuses on a group of teenagers who go on the run after accidentally killing someone.

In a rain swept Tokyo, Eko complicates her life by publishing a 'Call For Dreams' ad in a newspaper. As strangers leave descriptions of dreams on her answering machine, a parallel police investigation of a murder in Tel Aviv unfolds.

On the day he is released from prison, Yisarael appears on the doorstep of the woman whose life he had changed. A weird relationship develops between the two.

A guy walking down the street sees a man being kidnapped into a public garden in broad daylight. There is no trace of the man, but a few blood drops leading to a manhole cover in the ground. When the guy comes back at night to investigate, a surprise is waiting for him.

In a post-industrial world people are no longer able to dream. A factory run by Mr Terrier sells the frightened, sleepless masses a dreaming experience. Sarah, the single surviving dreamer, sets out to the only place that can provide answers to her strange night-time visions: the dream factory. Her arrival excites Mr Terrier, who is searching for a new dreamer. The visions of the old comatose man, whose dreams Mr Terrier taps into, have become repetitive and dull. He must be replaced. Didi, Sarah's lover, cuts and edits the dreams for Mr Terrier. To avoid Sarah turning out like the old man, Didi must save her. But for Terrier, Sarah holds the future of his company. He kidnaps her, tying her up then forcibly drugging her. After awakening, Sarah comes to realize the repercussions her dreams have had in the real world.

"Each tribe was identified by a flag and by a stone that belonged to it and gave it its power, but many years passed and the tribal leaders died, and their stones and symbols remained. The stones had a special power, each stone and its power. An indescribable power that could enchant any human and heal him."

Raymond Amsalem embodies the image of a weak and submissive woman, whose husband is a drinker and gambler and who cheats on her with other women. Her son is serving in the IDF and refrained from returning home for holidays, her daughter ran away, and the little boy is watching his family collapse into itself.

Flash (1987) A couple becomes hostage when a frantic soldier takes over their house. This social drama depicts the state of the Israeli society following the devastating 1984 war.