Oscar-winning Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal is now missing after being attacked by Israeli settlers

Hamdan Ballal, a palestinian arab co-director of the Oscar-winning docudrama No Other set ashore (2024), has been arrested by Israeli forces in the tenanted westward Bank (in his home village of Susiya in Masafer Yatta) after he was attacked and severely injured by Israeli settlers. This incident was confirmed by his fellow co-director, Yuval Abraham, who shared the disturbing news on social media. “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,” Abraham wrote in a post on X. He added, “Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called, and took him. No sign of him since.”

This violence against Ballal is part of a troubling pattern of escalating attacks on activists and supporters of Palestine. The incident was captured through a harrowing video provided by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, which showed masked settlers attacking activists in a dusty field at night. The video captures a settler aggressively shoving and swinging his fists at two activists, who rush back to their car, calling for safety. “Back to the car, back to the car!” one of them shouts, as rocks can be heard hitting the car. “Car window was broken,” the driver says as they speed off. The group of masked settlers also targeted the American-Jewish activists with stones and sticks, smashing their car windows and slashing their tyres.

A post shared by Center for Jewish Nonviolence (@cjnvgram)

The attacks on Palestinian supporters and activists are becoming increasingly severe, with incidents like the arrest of student activist Mahmoud Khalil, who is currently detained for “exercising his right to free speech as he advocated for a free Palestine” and Ranjani Srinivasan, who was forced to flee to Canada after her student visa was revoked amid a U.S. Crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters. Srinivasan feared for her safety after immigration authorities showed up at her door, a tactic the U.S. Government is pushing as the situation continues to deteriorate with new strikes across the Gaza strip despite January's ceasefire. This escalation underscores the urgent need to address the ongoing oppression and suffering of Palestinians in the occupied territories.

In light of these events, it is a poignant time to watch No Other Land — a documentary that recently won big at the Oscars. The film, which was recorded between 2019 and 2023, follows the destruction of the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers. It also explores the alliance between Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval, highlighting the destructive impact of the Israeli military’s forced displacement tactics. Offering an unflinching look at the community's resistance against the imposition of an Israeli “firing zone” on their land, the documentary’s relevance has only intensified with the director's recent detention.

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