Yuval Abraham, one of two Israeli co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, has slammed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its response to his Palestinian co-director Hamdan Ballal being brutally attacked by Israeli settlers and detained by the IDF.

To begin with, the Academy said nothing about Hamdan being assaulted and unlawfully detained, which took place on Monday (March 24). After being criticised for this (including by Abraham), on Wednesday (March 26) it released a statement which seemed to justify its silence, condemning “harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoint” in the abstract but not naming Ballal, the attack or No Other Land, a documentary which is explicitly about settler violence, military violence and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.

“We are living in a time of profound change, marked by conflict and uncertainty – across the globe, in the US and within our own industry,” the statement, signed by the Academy’s chief executive, Bill Kramer and president, Janet Yang, read. “Understandably, we are often asked to speak on behalf of the Academy in response to social, political and economic events. In these instances, it is important to note that the Academy represents close to 11,000 global members with many unique viewpoints.” 

Posting a screenshot of the statement on X, Abraham pointed out the failure to name Hamdam and wrote, “After our criticism, the Academy’s leaders sent out this email to members explaining their silence on Ballal’s assault: they need to respect ‘unique viewpoints’.” He compared the statement to the “rightfully strong” position the Academy took when six Iranian filmmakers were arrested.

On Monday, Ballal was beaten by a group of armed settlers who had entered his village in the Masafer Yatta area of the occupied West Bank, accompanied by Israeli soldiers. According to multiple eyewitnesses, the settlers began attacking Palestinian residents and destroying their property.  While attempting to protect his family, Ballal was attacked. He told The Guardian: “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. In that moment, I thought I was going to die.”

While Ballal was in detention, he says he was beaten further, blindfolded for 24 hours and left in freezing conditions, he told the Associated Press, in what he believes was a targeted attack and deliberate revenge for No Other Land. Does the Academy really need to respect the “unique viewpoints” of people who think it’s acceptable to torture filmmakers?

According to Ballal’s lawyer, he was detained along with others on the suspicion of throwing stones, which he denies. “I didn’t throw stones, I didn’t do any problems with the settlers,” he told ABC. “The settlers came attacking me and beating me. That’s it.” There is actually video footage which shows settlers throwing stones at Palestinian residents and Jewish peace activists, not the other way around. It’s also worth noting that the incident took place in a Palestinian village, which soldiers and settlers had invaded, so it makes no sense to claim that Palestinian residents were the aggressors.

This attack comes amid a huge increase in settler and soldier violence in the West Bank, where, according to a recent UN report, 612 Palestinians have been killed between 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024. During the same period, there has also been a rise in the demolition of Palestinian property and forced expulsions of Palestinians, as Israel ramps up its illegal settlement-building programme in direct defiance of international law: last year the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s presence in Palestinian territory is illegal and order it to end its occupation and dismantle its settlements.