Hamdan Ballal, one of four filmmakers behind the documentary “No Other Land”, won The Oscar for the best documentary According to reports, the Israeli military was said to have been arrested at the beginning of this month after being attacked by masked Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
After Jewish-American activists who took the attack on video, Ballal was surrounded and beaten by the settlers near his house in Masafer Yatta, the same region, which is aimed at destruction by the Israeli military in the documentary. The incident began when between 10 and 20 masked attackers began to throw the Palestinian stones. The Center for Jewish Functional Frechau provided the AP with a copy of the video, from which they say they show a masked settler who swings two activists from the group. The activists then run to their car, which is packed with stones as they drive away.
The Israeli military offered no immediate comment than to say that they examine the incident. The report of the attack In the Guardian quotes several witnesses who claim that Israeli soldiers arrived in Ballal’s house together with other settlers who carry military uniforms. They chased Ballal into his house, at this point he was detained by the soldiers. Activists then shot a video of blood on the floor of Ballal’s residence, which was supposedly the result of the filmmaker on the head.
“The settlers destroyed his car with stones and slit one of the tires,” said a witness named Raviv. “All windows and windshields were broken.”
The activist Josh Kimelman, who was also on site, said: “We don’t know where Hamdan is because he was taken away in a blindfold.”
The no other land filmmakers were previously physically attacked
This is not the first time that a “no other country” was attacked by Israeli settlers. Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra Was surrounded and attacked in a similar way to the attack on Ballal. In both cases, the victim’s cars were smashed and their tires accelerated while their water tanks were pierced. In Adra’s case, the neighbors’ houses were attacked when their residents screamed for help.
This attack comes at the same time that repressive forces in the United States try to punish the exhibitors for screening “no other country”. Last week the mayor of Miami, Steven Mine, threatened to cancel the rental agreement of the Arthouse O cinema for the filmBut withdrawn after he was considered in the town hall with angry public comments. This is a minor dust that compares in no way with the comparison with what is going on in Gaza, but it will be a memory that the best reaction to fascism and injustice for decent, principle in order to appear and call potential dictators.
It is also important that news agencies keep the heat of the Israeli military so that they do not believe that they can get away with the disappearance of an Oscar winner who committed the crime to document their actions for the whole world to see them. We hope that “no other country”, This still has no US distribution, but is available with certain means and event locationswill soon come to streaming in the United States.
