‘Nobody Wants This’ Star Tovah Feldshuh Pushes Back on Adam Brody’s Gaza Comments
Few Netflix comedies have turned into the kind of appointment viewing that ‘Nobody Wants This’ has. The rom-com, created by Erin Foster, follows a rabbi and a non-Jewish podcaster, and its third season arrived on October 22 after earlier seasons premiered in 2024 and 2025.
With Kristen Bell and Adam Brody leading the cast, the show has built its identity around Jewish life and culture, and its release schedule has kept it in the spotlight each fall. This season, the couple takes a new step by moving in together.
But the buzz around the new episodes has been tangled up with a real-world debate involving the cast. Brody’s remarks on Gaza in a GQ interview have prompted a response from Tovah Feldshuh, who plays his on-screen mother, Bina Roklov.
The GQ interview, conducted in late September, focused on Brody’s political activism, including canvassing for Democratic candidates ahead of the midterms through the progressive group Swing Left. Asked whether he wanted to address the war in Gaza publicly, Brody said he considers it a genocide and wants a free Palestine.
He added that he hopes a future U.S. administration can correct policies he believes are making the situation worse. Brody had previously kept his views on the war private, and he is among a small number of Jewish celebrities to use the word publicly.
The term remains deeply contested. Some bodies, including a United Nations Commission of Inquiry and various human rights groups, have concluded that Israel’s actions fit the description. Israel strongly rejects the accusation, saying it is fighting a terror group embedded in residential areas, hospitals and schools, and that it makes significant efforts to minimize harm to civilians.
Feldshuh, 77, who is Jewish, addressed the issue in an interview with The New York Post published on Sunday. She called it wild to accuse the Jewish people of genocide, compared the argument to rhetoric from Hitler’s era, and said it turns the victim into the perpetrator.
She also said accusations like this carry extra weight within the Jewish community when they come from Jewish people. In her view, influential figures with large platforms who spread claims she considers false do the most damage, though one report noted that she did not mention Brody by name in that remark.
Feldshuh also voiced strong support for Israel. She said the continued existence of the state is crucial to the well-being of the democratic and free world, and that the United States needs Israel as much as Israel needs the United States. She added that, in her view, the current political climate is bringing socialism and antisemitism closer together.
She isn’t the only voice from the show to weigh in. Rabbi Steve Leder, who consulted on the first season’s portrayal of Judaism, criticized Brody in an Instagram video earlier this month, arguing that there is no genocide in Gaza.
Creator Erin Foster has also responded, speaking on the ‘Not Skinny But Not Fat’ podcast. She said she disagrees with Brody’s claims but loves him, describing her feelings as complicated.
Foster has said the set resembles dinner tables around the world, where people debate and disagree, and that she’s fine with that. Feldshuh took a similar tone, reportedly saying she would remain kind and professional toward colleagues with different views.
The timing is notable because the series has conspicuously avoided the subject of Israel. Foster has described the show as a love letter to Judaism at a time when there is almost no positive representation of Jewish people.
Brody’s role as a rabbi has also made his remarks more visible. His character is a centerpiece of the show’s depiction of Jewish faith, and some viewers and commentators have debated whether it’s possible to separate the actor’s views from the part.
Brody has said that he answers the questions he’s asked and has never ducked politics. A representative for Brody did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Feldshuh’s remarks, according to TheWrap.
For now, the cast is working through the disagreement in public while the third season finds its audience. Netflix has not commented on the debate, and the series’ creator and co-stars have stressed that their working relationships remain positive.
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