Academy members support Oscar-winner Palestinian Hamdan Ballal

Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian director of the film “No Other Land,” winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary on March 2, bestowed by the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, was brutally beaten and tortured by Zionist settlers and two Israeli soldiers on March 24. This attack took place in front of his family outside of his home in Susiya in the Masafer Yatta region of the occupied West Bank.

A group of settlers had ambushed Ballal’s elderly neighbors as night fell. When he attempted to film this attack, three masked settlers began beating him. Members of the Israeli Occupation Forces arrived and shot bullets into the air. Later, Ballal stated, “I thought they were going to kill me.” (CNN, March 27) He was then grabbed by the soldiers, taken to a military base. Blindfolded, handcuffed and bleeding from his head, he was beaten all night and then released the next day.

This attack caused an outcry by many people in the global and U.S. film-making communities. The European Film Academy called for Ballal’s release. Actor Mark Ruffalo called on “every filmmaker and [U.S.] Academy member to act together in protest.” Some 3,700 signatures were gathered on a petition calling for Ballal’s immediate release and safety. Among those who signed on were filmmakers Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus, Ezra Edelman, Christine Vachon and Maite Alberdi.

Ballal: Assault was ‘revenge for our movie’

Ballal said that he was attacked by settlers and soldiers, because his film depicts the Palestinian people’s struggle against the Israeli military’s demolition of Masafer Yatta and Zionist settlers’ assaults.. He was also mocked for winning an Oscar. Ballal stressed: “It was a revenge for our movie. I heard the voices of the soldiers; they were laughing about me. … I heard [the word] ‘Oscar.’”(Guardian, March 28)

Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist and the documentary’s co-director, wrote on X that the [U.S.] Academy “sadly declined to support Hamdan Ballal while he was beaten by Israeli soldiers and settlers. While Hamdan was clearly targeted for making ‘No Other Land,’ he was also targeted for being Palestinian — like countless others every day who are disregarded. This … gave the Academy an excuse to remain silent when a filmmaker they honored, living under Israeli occupation, needed them the most.”

Abraham continued: “Several U.S. Academy members — especially in the documentary branch — pushed for a statement, but it was ultimately refused. We were told that because other Palestinians were beaten up in the settler attack, it could be considered unrelated to the film, so they felt no need to respond!” (Deadline, March 26)

Responding to the criticism, the Academy President Janet Yang and CEO Bill Kramer issued a tepid statement for the organization on March 26 that did not mention Ballal or “No Other Land,” adhering to Washington’s pro-Israel stance. It simply criticized “harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints,” and mentioned that the Academy represents nearly 11,000 members worldwide “with many unique viewpoints.” This letter was circulated internally, only to members.

Demands for Academy to condemn attacks on Ballal

This weak statement infuriated and activated hundreds of members of the Academy, actors and directors, who called for a much stronger response in an open letter on March 27. Over 600 signers demanded that the Academy’s board of directors condemn the violent attacks on Ballal by Israeli settlers and soldiers and defend his film.

Their letter stated in part: “The statement by Bill Kramer and Janet Yang fell far short of the sentiments this moment calls for. Therefore we are issuing our own statement, which speaks for the undersigned members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. … We stand in condemnation of the brutal assault and unlawful detention of Oscar-winning filmmaker Hamdan Ballal by settlers and Israeli forces in the West Bank. … It is indefensible for an organization to recognize a film with an award in March and then fail to defend its filmmakers just a few weeks later.” (Deadline, March 28)

Initial signatories include leading members of the Academy, prominent actors Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Olivia Coleman, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Thompson, directors Ava DuVernay, Alfonso Cuaron, Adam McCay and Jonathan Glazer and writer Tony Kushner.

As the crisis deepened within the Academy, its board held an emergency meeting on March 28 and issued a new letter in an effort to do damage control. Over 700 voting members signed this letter apologizing to Ballal and condemning the brutal assault and unlawful detention of the director of “No Other Land.” As of Sunday, March 30, 850 people had signed on. (Deadline, March 28; see update)

The violent attack and public outrage by filmmakers and others shed more light on the growing violence by Zionist soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and the increasingly aggressive moves by the U.S.-backed Israeli regime to annex more Palestinian territory. Since October 7, 2023, the IOF and Israeli settlers have killed over 870 Palestinians, including 177 children, in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. (Guardian, March 29)