Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary ’No Other Land’, was brutally attacked by Israeli settlers before being arrested by Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank.
The incident, which happenned in the village of Susiya, has sparked outrage, with fellow filmmakers and activists decrying what they describe as a targeted attack on Palestinian resistance voices.
Yuval Abraham, Ballal’s Israeli co-director, broke the news on X, stating, “A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal, co-director of our film No Other Land. They beat him, and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding. Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called and took him. No sign of him since.”
Abraham later posted a haunting image of Israeli occupation forces taking Ballal, writing, “I’m standing with Karam, Hamdan’s 7-year-old son, near the blood of Hamdan in his house, after settlers lynched him. Hamdan is still missing after soldiers abducted him, injured and bleeding. This is how they erase Masafer Yatta.”
Another post shared a dashcam video capturing the settlers involved in the attack. Abraham described them as “armed KKK-like masked settlers” who targeted Ballal and others in the village.
The video, provided by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, shows masked settlers physically assaulting activists before pelting their car with stones, breaking windows, and slashing tires.
According to Aljazeera 10 to 20 masked settlers took part in the assault, with Israeli soldiers failing to intervene.
“We don’t know where Hamdan is because he was taken away in a blindfold,” Associated Press quoted Jewish activis Josh Kimelman as sayiing.
The Israeli military claimed that three Palestinians, including Ballal, were arrested for allegedly throwing rocks at occupation forces. However, witnesses and fellow filmmakers dispute this, asserting that it was the settlers who initiated the violence.
Attorney Lea Tsemel confirmed that Ballal and two others were detained at a military base, supposedly for medical treatment. However, she has been unable to speak with them. The whereabouts and condition of Ballal remain unclear.
’No Other Land’, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary this year, chronicles the struggle of Palestinian residents in Masafer Yatta against Israeli military demolitions and settler violence. The documentary, a joint Palestinian-Israeli production, has faced backlash from Israeli authorities and far-right groups.
Basel Adra, another co-director, linked the attack to the film’s global impact. “We came back from the Oscars, and every day since, there is an attack on us,” AP quoted Adra. “This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.”
