A Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary film “No Other Land” (Kein anderes Land), Hamdan Ballal, was detained by the Israeli police after being beaten by a settler mob in the West Bank, according to an eyewitness and another filmmaker.
The film, which won the prize for best documentary in 2024, shows the destruction of a Palestinian community in the territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
Israeli journalist and co-director of the film, Yuval Abraham, said Ballal was beaten and then detained by the police. “A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal. He has head and stomach injuries, bleeding. Soldiers entered the ambulance he called and took him away. Since then, no sign of him” Abraham wrote on X on Monday.
He later clarified that he meant Ballal was attacked, but not murdered and added that the filmmaker is now being held in a police station and his lawyer has not been allowed to see him yet.
The incident occurred in Susya, a village south of the city of Hebron, according to the British Guardian. Five Jewish US activists from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence told the newspaper that around 15 armed settlers surrounded and attacked Ballal. “They started throwing stones in the direction of the Palestinians and destroyed a water tank at Hamdan’s house” said one of the witnesses, who wished to remain anonymous.
“‘The group of armed, Ku Klux Klan-like settlers, who lynched the co-director of ‘No Other Land’ was recorded by the camera” Abraham said.
Abraham also published a 10-second clip, which appears to be from the dashcam of Ballal’s car, showing a group of masked men, some of whom were wielding sticks, running towards the car, with one of them throwing a stone at the windshield. Another video, circulating on social media, shows a short confrontation between Ballal’s team and the settlers.
“A group of Israeli terrorists tried to lynch Hamdan Ballal, the co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary film ‘No Other Land’ earlier in the day near his hometown of Hebron. Hamdan was seriously injured and was taken away by the Israeli army” the statement said.
The Israeli army confirmed the incident, without naming the individuals involved. “Several terrorists threw stones at Israeli citizens and damaged their vehicles in Susya. Then a violent confrontation broke out, including mutual stone-throwing between Palestinians and Israelis” the statement said.
The Israeli army said its forces had detained “three Palestinians suspected of throwing stones, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation”.
The statement indirectly contradicted Abraham’s accounts of Ballal’s detention, “no Palestinian was arrested from an ambulance”.
Meanwhile, it seems Ballal is now free. “He was beaten all over his body by soldiers and settlers. The soldiers held him overnight on their military base with his eyes and hands bound” said a statement.