By Talia Mullin / Original to ScheerPost
Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the Oscar winning documentary film, “No Other Land,” was taken into custody by the IDF after Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank attacked and injured him late Monday evening. The Palestinians director’s whereabouts are still currently unknown.
The location of the attack in Ballal’s home village called Susya in Masafer Yatta, coincides with the focus of the award-winning film that documented the destruction of villages in the West Bank.
Haaretz reported on the instigation of the event:
“A settler approached Palestinian homes, and when residents asked him to leave, dozens of settlers arrived and attacked them with stones and blows with their fists.
The settlers destroyed water tanks, stole security cameras, and smashed car windows. When soldiers arrived, the settlers fled. American activists at the scene called the police but said officers did not intervene.”
Five Jewish-American witnesses told The Guardian Ballal was surrounded by about 15 armed settlers who began to beat him. Additionally, activists from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence reported that the settlers destroyed all the windows of his car and slashed one of the tires.
Co-director, Yuval Abraham, an Israeli citizen, posted on X that “A group of settlers … 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.” The IDF claimed “no Palestinian was apprehended from inside an ambulance.”
Members of the Center for Jewish Nonviolence said they saw blood all over Ballal’s floor and family members said it came from when he was hit on the head. It is unclear whether or not Ballal is receiving medical treatment for his injuries.
According to Haaretz, a rapid-response unit that consists of Israeli settlers from other nearby settlements arrived at the scene shortly after the settler mob and were responsible for handing him over to Israeli Defense Forces.
Videos have surfaced of the attack on X, showing settlers throwing rocks and activists fleeing in fear:
The IDF in a statement to media said they have detained one Israeli and three Palestinians — including Ballal and another man only identified as Nasser.
The statement also claimed there was a violent confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis.
Basel Adra, activist and one of four co-directors of the Oscar winning film, wrote on X:
“I’m standing with Karam, Hamdan’s 7 year old son, near the blood of Hamdan’s in his house, after settlers lynched [sic] him. Hamdan, co-director of our film No Other Land, is still missing after soldiers abducted him, injured and bleeding. This is how they erase Masafer Yatta.”
This is not the first time Palestinian directors of “No Other Land” have been targeted since the film’s release. Adra shared photos and videos of an attack on his village the day after returning home from the Academy Awards ceremony.
“After the assault, Hamdan was handcuffed and blindfolded all night in an army base while two soldiers beat him up on the floor, his lawyer Leah Tsemel said after speaking with him just now. He’s still held in the Kiryat Arba police station,” Yuval Abraham wrote to X early Tuesday morning. About an hour later he wrote:
Hamdan Ballal is free and is about to go home to his family
According to Ballal’s lawyer, Lea Tsemel, Ballal and two other Palestinians were released from a police station on Tuesday after spending the night on the floor and in pain due to serious injuries they suffered during the attack.
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