Academy “Refused” to Publicly Support Hamdan Ballal, Says ‘No Other Land’ Co-Director

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Film director Yuval Abraham is voicing criticism towards the Academy, as they have yet to publicly express support following the brutal attack and detention of co-director Hamdan Ballal, who was involved with the movie “No Other Land“.

Abraham, one of the four directors of the award-winning documentary, shared earlier this week that Ballal was detained on Monday night following an assault by a group of settlers in his village, Susiya. A witness reported to The Hollywood Reporter that there was a pool of blood outside Ballal’s door and two other Palestinians, Khaled Mohammad Shanran and Nasser Shreteh, were also apprehended at the scene.

On Tuesday, Abraham shared a message indicating that Ballal was freed after being questioned by the Israeli authorities.

As a gamer, I’m expressing my disappointment once more. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the folks who honored me with an Oscar just a few weeks back, chose not to voice their support when Hamdan Ballal was brutally attacked by Israeli soldiers and settlers. It’s truly unfortunate that they remained silent during this inhumane incident.

The European Academy, along with numerous other award organizations and events, expressed their backing. Multiple members from the U.S. Academy, particularly those within the documentary division, advocated for a statement; however, this was declined. We were informed that since other Palestinians had been assaulted during the settler attack, it was deemed unrelated to the film, and thus, they saw no necessity to issue a response.

As a gamer speaking, I’d say: “To put it simply, Hamdan was not just targeted because of his film ‘No Other Land,’ but also because he was Palestinian, like many others who face similar neglect daily. It appears that this fact provided the Academy with an excuse to stay silent when a filmmaker they had honored needed them the most during Israeli occupation. There’s still time to change this stance. Issuing a statement right now, condemning the attack on Hamdan and the Masafer Yatta community, would send a powerful message and act as a deterrent for future incidents.

The Academy didn’t provide a response right away when THR asked for a comment. This is because the organization typically avoids commenting on issues that fall outside of its direct area of responsibility.

On Monday, the IDF provided an alternate account of the events leading up to the incident in their statement. They claimed that the violence erupted after a group of individuals, identified as terrorists, threw rocks at Israeli civilians, causing damage to their vehicles. Subsequently, both parties began exchanging rock-throwing attacks. Upon arrival at the scene, IDF and Israeli police forces reported encountering more rock-throwers among the crowd, who were targeting the security personnel. According to both sides, three Palestinians were apprehended in the ensuing chaos.

The 97th annual Academy Awards, held on March 2, awarded the Best Documentary prize to the film No Other Land, which was directed by a team of four filmmakers – two Israeli and two Palestinian.

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2025-03-26 16:54