LONDON: “No Other Land” co-director Yuval Abraham has condemned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its response to the violent attack on his Palestinian co-director, Hamdan Ballal.
The Israeli filmmaker and journalist accused the academy of failing to directly acknowledge the incident, noting that its statement did not mention Ballal by name.
This marks the second time this week that Abraham has publicly criticized the academy. Earlier, he denounced the institution for remaining silent on the attack, in which Israeli settlers assaulted Ballal before he was detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank on Monday.
“After our criticism, the academy’s leaders sent out this email to members explaining their silence on Hamdan’s assault: they need to respect ‘unique viewpoints,’” Abraham wrote on X.
The academy’s letter stated that while it “condemns harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints,” it does not publicly comment on “social, political, and economic events” despite frequent requests to do so. “In these instances, it is important to note that the Academy represents close to 11,000 global members with many unique viewpoints,” the statement read.
Abraham pointed out the contrast between this response and the academy’s past actions, specifically its strong condemnation of Iran’s detention of filmmakers such as Jafar Panahi in 2011. “Compare this,” he wrote, “which didn’t even name Hamdan, to the Academy’s rightfully strong position when it’s the Iranian government oppressing filmmakers.”
The academy has yet to issue a further response.
Ballal, one of the documentary’s four directors — two Israeli and two Palestinian — was released from Israeli detention on Tuesday.
In an interview with The Guardian, he described his ordeal, saying, “I thought I was going to die” when Israeli soldiers aided the settlers who attacked him outside his home in Susya, a village in the Masafer Yatta area of the West Bank.
He also claimed he was beaten while in detention, calling the assault “revenge for our movie.”
The global film community swiftly condemned the attack and arrest. The US-based International Documentary Association posted a message on Instagram demanding Ballal’s immediate release. The Berlin Film Festival, where “No Other Land” had its premiere and won the award for best documentary last year, called the incident “very distressing.”
