Beirut, March 25, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the masked Israel settlers who assaulted Palestinian documentary film director Hamdan Ballal and the Israeli soldiers who arrested him in the occupied West Bank on Monday to be held to account.
Ballal, who was freed on Tuesday, was one of four co-directors of “No Other Land” which won this year’s best documentary Academy Award for its portrayal of efforts by Palestinians to stop the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from demolishing their homes in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron.
“The brazen attack on Palestinian documentary filmmaker Hamdan Ballal by settlers and arrest by the IDF provides yet more evidence of Israeli authorities’ hostility to a free press,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “Israel must end its attacks on journalists and filmmakers at once and hold perpetrators to account.”
At least 15 settlers, some in military uniforms, surrounded and attacked Ballal at his home, vandalized his car, and handed him over to IDF soldiers in Masafer Yatta’s Susya village.
The Israeli military told The Associated Press that it handed over three Palestinians, suspected of hurling rocks at forces, to the police for questioning, and that one Israeli civilian involved in a “violent confrontation” was evacuated for medical treatment — a claim witnesses interviewed by the news agency disputed.
Co-director Basel Adra, who witnessed the March 24 attack, said the police did not intervene to stop the violence.
“While the soldiers were pointing their weapons at us, the settlers started attacking the houses of the Palestinians,” he told The Guardian newspaper.
In February 2024, Yuval Abraham, an Israeli co-director of “No Other Land” received death threats and his family were threatened following his acceptance speech at the Berlin International Film Festival. Adra was also attacked by masked Israeli settlers.
CPJ’s email to the IDF’s North America Desk inquiring about the reason for Hamdan’s arrest and when he was due to be released did not immediately receive a response.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
CPJ Staff | Radio Free (2025-03-25T14:37:35+00:00) Oscar-winning Palestinian ‘No Other Land’ director assaulted in West Bank. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/03/25/oscar-winning-palestinian-no-other-land-director-assaulted-in-west-bank/
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