No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal says violent attack was ‘revenge for our movie’

Hamdan Ballal has spoken out about being targeted after being ‘handcuffed, blindfolded, and beaten’ while detained by the Israeli military.

The director, who won an Oscar this year for No Other Land for best documentary feature, was attacked by 10 to 20 Israeli settlers earlier this week.

Ballal’s co-director, Yuval Abraham, tweeted on X: ‘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.’

Although the director was later set free, he has now spoken about the ordeal, claiming he was deliberately targeted and believed he was going to die.

‘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,’ he told The Guardian.

He added: ‘It was a revenge for our movie. I heard the voices of the soldiers, they were laughing about me … I heard [the word] “Oscar”.’

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces denied to the outlet that Ballal was beaten in detention.

‘The claims that the detainees were beaten during the night at an IDF detention facility were found to be entirely baseless.

‘IDF forces facilitated medical treatment for the detainees after the initial transfer of the suspects to the Israel police, and throughout the night, the detainees remained in a military detention facility while handcuffed in accordance with operational protocol.’

It was reported that the filmmaker was blindfolded and detained in the Israeli-occupied West Bank area.

Just hours before his release, Abraham revealed on X: ‘After the assault, Hamdan was handcuffed and blindfolded all night in an army base while two soldiers beat him up on the floor, his lawyer Leah Tsemel said after speaking with him just now. He’s still held in the Kiryat Arba police station.’

Abraham shared videos on X of the alleged attackers, claiming the group continues to target American activists.

A witness who saw the scene told The New York Times: ‘Soldiers just stood around,’ he added: ‘Later, when we got there, we saw his blood on the ground.’

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) told Sky News: ‘Several terrorists hurled rocks at Israeli citizens, damaging their vehicles near Susya.’

They reported that there was ‘mutual rock-hurling between Palestinians and Israelis at the scene.

‘In response, the forces apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at them, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation. The detainees were taken for further questioning by the Israeli police. An Israeli citizen was injured in the incident and was evacuated to receive medical treatment.

‘Contrary to claims, no Palestinian was apprehended from inside an ambulance.’

The incident comes as the Israeli military has been raiding the West Bank area in what is said to be an effort to crack down on militant groups.

No Other Land follows a Palestinian activist Adra, who has been pushing back against the forced displacement of his people by Israel’s military in Masafer Yatta, a region in the West Bank, since he was a child.

The film documents his home is destroyed as soldiers tear down homes and evict communities so they can construct a military firing zone.

Filmed over four years between 2019 and 2023, the film utilises an archive of videos filmed by Adra’s family and neighbours over 20 years.

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