On Monday, March 24, Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the Oscar-winning film “No Other Land,” was beaten and abducted by Israeli settlers and soldiers outside of his home in the village of Susya in the occupied West Bank. He was detained overnight and hospitalized following his release. “No Other Land” documents the resilience of Palestinians in the face of settler-violence in the West Bank, and the friendship formed between a Palestinian activist and an Israeli journalist despite Israel’s apartheid regime. The story of their friendship challenges the Zionist claim that Israel’s dominance over Palestinians is necessary to keep Jewish people safe.
Basel Adra, Ballal’s fellow director and witness of the attack, remarked that settler attacks have increased in Susya since “No Other Land” won the Academy Award and exposed the ongoing nature of Israel’s state-sanctioned violence in the West Bank. “The army and the police here are army and police of the occupation. The courts are courts of occupation, everything to legitimize the occupation and to steal our land.”
Silencing the stories and activism of Palestinians and their allies is a necessary tool for Israel to justify its occupation of Palestinian lands. And the U.S. defends Israel to maintain its military control over the Middle East. Israel and the U.S. try to pretend their genocidal war on Palestinians is fighting “terrorism” and protecting Jewish people, but this is a lie. We cannot trust those in power to tell the truth when they commit genocide to protect their own privileges and wealth.
