On March 2, Hamdan Ballal, along with his co-directors, won Oscars for their documentary film No Other Land. This film vividly brings to life a reality largely censored in the U.S.: the violent, escalating attacks and land grabs by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
On March 24, a mob of masked Israeli settlers, armed with batons, knives and assault rifles, along with Israeli soldiers, carried out yet another vicious attack, this time against Hamdan Ballal himself. Ballal screamed, “I’m dying,” as he was being ruthlessly beaten and bleeding badly, as Israeli soldiers stood by. Israeli soldiers then detained and held him overnight at a military base—blindfolded and handcuffed. Israel initially reported the incident as a clash between settlers and rock-throwing “terrorists.”
Ballal had thrown no rocks. “It was a revenge for our movie,” he said. The film focused on the very area the attack on him took place in—the village of Susya in the Masafer Yatta region where he lives.
Ballal’s beating puts a spotlight—as his film does—on the mounting attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Since October 7, 2023, there have been over 1,860 attacks by Israeli settlers, police and military which have killed at least 870 Palestinians—177 of them children. This comes amid growing threats by the Netanyahu government—with backing from the Trump/MAGA fascist regime—to annex the whole West Bank. “Settlers act like a mafia,” Ballal said after being attacked. “They are criminals behaving like a criminal organization.”
One might have thought that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awarded Ballal with an Oscar and supposedly defends artistic freedom, would have immediately spoken up on his behalf—including to protect him from further attack, even death. But instead, it was silent.1
This silence sparked protest from many in the motion picture industry, including from Ballal’s co-director Yuval Abraham, and on Wednesday, March 26, the Academy did issue a statement. But it was generic, making no specific mention of Ballal, his beating or his film, because, the Academy explained to its membership, it had many members and had to respect “unique viewpoints.”
This evasion provoked further outrage. By Thursday an open letter from Academy members was circulating, condemning the Academy’s inaction and strongly supporting Hamdan Ballal. It stated, in part:
We stand in condemnation of the brutal assault and unlawful detention of Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal by settlers and Israeli forces in the West Bank.
As artists, we depend on our ability to tell stories without reprisals. Documentary filmmakers often expose themselves to extreme risks to enlighten the world. It is indefensible for an organization to recognize a film with an award in the first week of March, and then fail to defend its filmmakers just a few weeks later….
The targeting of Ballal is not just an attack on one film-maker—it is an attack on all those who dare to bear witness and tell inconvenient truths.
We will continue to watch over this film team. Winning an Oscar has put their lives in increasing danger, and we will not mince words when the safety of fellow artists is at stake.
By the evening of March 30, the letter has been signed by 872 Academy members, including Jane Fonda, Mark Ruffalo, Olivia Colman, Emma Thompson, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Joaquin Phoenix, Penelope Cruz, and many other prominent figures.
This outcry forced the Academy’s leadership to issue a statement on March 28 expressing their regret for Wednesday’s statement and apologizing “to Mr Ballal and all artists who felt unsupported by our previous statement and want to make it clear that the Academy condemns violence of this kind anywhere in the world.”2
Everyone who stands for justice and the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people needs to stay alert and be ready to come to the defense of Hamdan Ballal—or any other Palestinians, artists or otherwise, who come under attack.