Oscar-winning director Yuval Abraham has criticised the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for “refusing” to put out a public statement in support of his No Other Land co-director, Hamdan Ballal, who was recently attacked by Israeli settlers and later detained by the Israeli military.
Ballal, a Palestinian filmmaker, and his co-directors Abraham, Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli director Rachel Szor, won the 2025 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for their film No Other Land, which depicts the destruction of the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance that develops between Adra and Abraham.
On Monday, activists said Ballal was beaten by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank before being arrested by the Israeli military. He has since been freed.
However, according to Abraham, the “US Academy, which awarded us an Oscar three weeks ago, declined to publicly support Hamdan Ballal while he was beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers and settlers.”
“The European Academy voiced support, as did countless other award groups and festivals. Several US Academy members – especially in the documentary branch – pushed for a statement, but it was ultimately refused,” he wrote on X.
“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.”
He continued: “In other words, while Hamdan was clearly targeted for making No Other Land (he recalled soldiers joking about the Oscar as they tortured him), he was also targeted for being Palestinian – like countless others every day who are disregarded. This, it seems, gave the Academy an excuse to remain silent when a filmmaker they honoured, living under Israeli occupation, needed them the most.”
Abraham further urged the Academy to change its stance and issue a statement “condemning the attack on Hamdan and the Masafer Yatta community.”
“It’s not too late”, he added, saying it “would send a meaningful message and serve as a deterrent for the future.”
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The Independent has contacted the Academy for comment.
The Avengers star Mark Ruffalo was among the actors who called on “every filmmaker and academy member” to protest the attack.
“No matter where you stand on this issue this is an attack on our beloved art form of filmmaking,” he wrote on Instagram. “Hamdan Ballal is a political prisoner and this is an international incident in violation of human rights.”
Ballal has since recounted the attack, telling The Guardian: “I thought I was going to die.
“The soldiers pointed their rifles at me while the settler from behind began beating me,” he recalled. “They threw me to the ground, and the settler started hitting me on the head. Then a soldier also began beating me; with the butt of his rifle, he struck me on the head. After that, he fired his weapon in the air. I don’t understand Hebrew, but I gathered that he said the next rifle shot would hit me.”
According to Deadline, the Academy rarely releases public statements about detentions or instances of violence against Oscar winners. However, it did call for the release of multiple detained Iranian filmmakers in 2011.
