Hamdan Ballal, the Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning movie No Other Land, was assaulted by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Witnesses including his family, friends, colleagues, and his lawyer reported that Ballal was taken by Israeli soldiers, detained overnight, and mistreated during his arrest.
After being released from custody on Tuesday, Ballal’s lawyer, Leah Tzemel, disclosed that he was unlawfully detained at a police station in Kiryat Arba’a, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. She mentioned that Ballal was subjected to physical abuse by the Israeli soldiers while in custody.
Following his release, he was moved to a hospital in Hebron, where he was treated for his injuries, according to his brother, Nimer.
According to Tzemel, when they tried to retreat to their car, the settlers attacked them with sticks, causing damage to the vehicle. A video from the car’s dashboard camera, shared by CJNV, captures a masked person throwing a rock at the windshield. Additionally, photos reveal shattered glass inside the car.
Josh Kimelman, a Jewish American whose father is Israeli, was in the same group. He said that Israeli soldiers witnessed the incident but did nothing to prevent it.
“We told them that they attacked us,” Kimelman said. “They said everything will be fine and then stood by us and didn’t follow the settlers.”
Kimelman said that similar attacks happen frequently, but they don’t always get as much attention as they should.
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“They don’t always involve an Oscar-winning filmmaker,” he said.
“There’s no accountability for settlers who commit violence,” he added.
Earlier this month, Ballal, Adra and Abraham had all stood alongside each other to accept the Oscar for best documentary. The joint Israeli-Palestinian team’s film recounts the eviction of Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank.
No Other Land documents the continued demolition by Israeli authorities of Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the Hebron mountains of the West Bank where Adra lives with his family.
The documentary highlights the Israeli government’s efforts to evict the villagers by force, with viewers seeing the local playground being torn down, the killing of Adra’s brother by Israeli soldiers, and other attacks by Jewish settlers while the community tries to survive.
