Shaun
“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,” Abraham, an Israeli journalist and filmmaker, said in a post on X.
For the documentary No Other Land, Ballal collaborated with Abraham, fellow Palestinian filmmaker-activist Basel Adra, and Israeli cinematographer, editor and director Rachel Szor.
No Other Land captures the destruction of the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and highlights the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.
According to a report by Associated Press, Basel Adra, another co-director of the documentary, saw Ballal getting apprehended. Around two dozen settlers attacked the village, while soldiers wearing Israeli uniforms pointed their guns at Palestinians, he said.
“We came back from the Oscars and every day since there is an attack on us,” Adra told AP. “This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.”
Local reports suggest that dozens of settlers started pelting stones and destroying infrastructure like water tanks and car windows on Monday evening.
Later in the day, Abraham shared a video of masked men pelting stones on a car. “The group of armed KKK-like masked settlers that lynched No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal (still missing), caught here on camera,” he wrote.
No Other Land had its world premiere at 2023 Berlinale, where it won the Audience Award and Berlinale Documentary Award. However, Abraham sparked controversy for criticising a “situation of apartheid” in Israel and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in his acceptance speech.
According to Deadline, Abraham received death threats and was accused of antisemitism. The filmmaker-journalist, who belongs to a family that was killed during the Holocaust, refuted the allegations.
Following its premiere, No Other Land has won awards at 68 film festivals, including the BAFTA Award, European Film Award, IDA Awards and Gotham Independent Film Awards. It won the Best Documentary trophy at the Oscars.
