‘No sign of him’: The director of the Oscar-winning ‘No Other Land’ was attacked and arrested by Israeli military

Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal — one of four filmmakers who helmed the Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land — has been attacked and arrested by members of the Israeli army. 

According to five Jewish American activists who witnessed the incident, Ballal was surrounded and attacked by a masked and armed group of 15 Israeli settlers in his home in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron. Activist groups reached out to media outlets to describe the scene, which included stones being thrown, the destruction of a water tank near Ballal’s home, and the slashing of his car tyres and shattering of his windscreen.

Rolling Stone reports that Ballal’s home security cameras were stolen, and that some attackers carried batons, knives, and at least one assault rifle. The Israeli soldiers reportedly ambushed the ambulance Ballal had called in the midst of the attack, before chasing him into his home and turning him over to the military. Speaking to Rolling Stone, an activist group named the Center for Jewish Nonviolence said Ballal is currently being held at a police station, though details about his condition remain unclear.

The attack took place in an area south of West Bank, the very same location that was documented in No Other Land, a collaborative documentary between Israeli and Palestinian directors that covered the destruction of villages in the West Bank amid the ongoing conflict and war in Gaza. Speaking of the attack, co-director Yuval Abraham wrote on X that Israeli army members “beat [Ballal] and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding,” adding that there has been “no sign of him since” the attack. 

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.

— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) March 24, 2025

Meanwhile, Basel Adra — one of the other co-directors of the film, which took home the Academy’s top prize in the documentary category earlier this year — said the attack on Ballal may have been fuelled by the success of No Other Land. “The settlers’ violence is increasing here,” he told The Guardian, “maybe it’s a revenge for the movie and the Oscar,” Adra has himself been subject to similar incidents, having been surrounded and attacked by masked Israeli settlers last February. 

The Oscar win for No Other Land was divisive due to political sensitivities both in the region it documented and abroad. Viewers of the Academy Awards promptly noted the seeming unenthusiasm of the crowd when the movie was named Best Documentary, while, weeks later, the film became a source of controversy in the city of Miami Beach, Florida. Steven Meiner, the mayor of Miami Beach, attempted to terminate the lease of local theater O Cinema, in response to its decision to show No Other Land with screenings throughout March. 

Meiner wrote in a newsletter that the film is a “false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City.” Ballal took to the Oscars stage to accept the trophy for No Other Land, while his co-director Abraham used the moment to speak on the impact of American foreign policy on the ongoing conflict in Gaza. As for Ballal’s current plight, the Israel Defense Forces told The Guardian it is looking into the incident of his attack and arrest.