Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal had just returned from the Academy Awards, where his documentary No Other Land won an Oscar, when the threats began. But nothing prepared him for what came next: a violent attack by Israeli soldiers and armed settlers who beat him with rifle butts, threatened to shoot him, and mocked his recent triumph on cinema’s biggest stage.
“They laughed about the Oscar,” Ballal told The Guardian, his voice trembling. “In that moment, I thought I was going to die.”
The assault, which left Ballal injured and detained overnight, is the latest in a surge of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank—where settler attacks have skyrocketed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. But for Ballal, the attack felt personal: a brutal response to his film’s unflinching portrayal of life under Israeli occupation.
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“They Struck Me With Their Rifles—Then Mocked Our Oscar”
The attack unfolded Monday evening in Masafer Yatta, a rural area in the southern West Bank where Ballal lives. Witnesses say armed settlers, some masked and carrying knives and batons, stormed the village of Susya, accompanied by Israeli soldiers. When Ballal—who works with the human rights group Haqel: In Defense of Human Rights—tried to document the raid, the soldiers turned on him.
“One settler, escorted by two soldiers, came straight to my house,” Ballal recalled. “The soldiers pointed their rifles at me while the settler beat me from behind. They threw me to the ground, and then a soldier hit me on the head with his gun.”
As Ballal lay bleeding, the soldier fired a warning shot into the air.
“I don’t speak Hebrew, but I understood—the next shot would be at me.”
Handcuffed and blindfolded, Ballal was taken to a police station in the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba, where he spent the night on the floor under a freezing air conditioner. His lawyer, Lea Tsemel, said he received only minimal medical care.
Worst of all, Ballal said, was the soldiers’ taunting.
“I heard them laughing, saying ‘Oscar.’ It was revenge for our film.”
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“No Other Land”: A Documentary That Shook Israel
No Other Land, co-directed by Ballal and three others (both Palestinian and Israeli), chronicles the forced expulsion of Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta, where Israel has designated the area a military “firing zone” since the 1980s. The film follows residents as their homes are demolished, their water tanks destroyed, and their lives upended by the constant threat of expulsion.
Since its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival last year, the documentary has drawn both acclaim and fierce backlash. Israel’s far-right Culture Minister, Miki Zohar, called its Oscar win “a disgrace.” In the U.S., officials in Miami Beach tried to revoke the lease of a theater that screened it.
But the film’s success has also made its creators targets. Fellow crew members and activists featured in No Other Land have faced harassment, and Ballal says the violence has only worsened since the Oscars.
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A West Bank on Edge—As Gaza War Fuels Settler Violence
The attack on Ballal comes amid a dramatic escalation of violence in the West Bank, where Israeli forces and settlers have killed hundreds of Palestinians since the Gaza war began. Armed settler raids, once sporadic, have become a near-daily occurrence, with human rights groups documenting beatings, arson, and shootings aimed at driving Palestinians off their land.
Masafer Yatta, where No Other Land was filmed, has been a focal point of this violence. The Israeli military has repeatedly demolished homes and infrastructure, claiming the area is needed for training exercises. Palestinian residents, mostly Bedouin herders, live under constant threat of expulsion.
“They won’t stop here,” Ballal said. “The settlers will keep attacking us. Now, I’m more afraid than ever—not just for myself, but for everyone here.”
Ballal’s ordeal underscores a grim reality: in the West Bank, even an Oscar win is no protection from the brutality of occupation. As Gaza dominates global headlines, Palestinians in the West Bank say they are facing a silent crackdown—one that No Other Land sought to expose.
“After what they did to me,” Ballal said, “I fear it could happen to anyone. This is what occupation looks like.”
