Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, who recently acquired an Oscar for the documentary "No Other Land", was brutally assaulted by Israeli settlers and soldiers last Monday night. His co-director, Yuval Abraham, has now alleged that the US Academy "US Academy declined to publicly support [him] while Hamdan was beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers and settlers." On March 26, Yuval shared a lengthy post on X (formerly Twitter), criticising the US Academy for remaining silent during Hamdan's ordeal.
He wrote, "Sadly, the US Academy, which awarded us an Oscar three weeks ago, declined to publicly support Hamdan Ballal while he was beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers and settlers. The European Academy voiced support, as did countless other award groups and festivals. Several US Academy members—especially in the documentary branch—pushed for a statement, but it was ultimately refused.
We were told that because other Palestinians were beaten up in the settler attack, it could be considered unrelated to the film, so they felt no need to respond." Moreover, he stated, "In other words, while Hamdan was clearly targeted for making 'No Other Land' (he recalled soldiers joking about the Oscar as they tortured him), he was also targeted for being Palestinian—like countless others every day who are disregarded. This, it seems, gave the Academy an excuse to remain silent when a filmmaker they honoured, living under Israeli occupation, needed them the most.
" Yuval concluded by ca.
