'It became worse' after Oscar win, says Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal detained by Israel

Margaret Evans · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 26, 2025 3:09 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Oscar-winning Palestinian manager Hamdan Ballal believes helium is being deliberately targeted by Israeli settlers and soldiers successful the occupied West Bank pursuing the occurrence of his movie No Other Land, which won champion documentary astatine the prestigious awards ceremonial earlier this month.   

"Because of that, they're attacking me," helium said successful a telephone interrogation with CBC News, a time aft helium was released from a constabulary presumption successful the Israeli colony of Qiryat Arba, adjacent Hebron. 

"They punish maine due to the fact that I instrumentality this connection [to the extracurricular world]," helium said from his location successful Masafer Yatta, a clump of Palestinian villages successful the southbound Hebron hills.  

The film, which Ballal co-directed with chap Palestinian Basel Adra and Israelis Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, documents Palestinians successful Masafer Yatta surviving nether concern and struggling to clasp connected to their land. 

Israel captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan successful 1967. Today, determination are immoderate 500,000 Jewish settlers surviving successful the West Bank alone, adjacent though they're considered amerciable nether planetary instrumentality by overmuch of the world. 

About 3 cardinal Palestinians unrecorded successful the West Bank, and tensions person escalated during the warfare successful Gaza.

Ballal says helium was detained aft being severely beaten by a settler helium identified arsenic Shem Tov Luski and 2 soldiers aft he'd been filming Israeli settlers harassing Palestinian villagers connected Monday.

He says his ordeal began astir 6 p.m., erstwhile a chap nonmigratory successful his location colony of Susiya phoned to alert him to the Israelis' presence.  

"When I got there, the settlers [were throwing] stones and destroyed the h2o tank, the cars there," helium said.  

When Ballal near to cheque connected his ain household helium says helium was followed by Luski and the 2 soldiers, each armed, who continued beating him adjacent erstwhile helium had fallen to the ground.   

He says his requests for aesculapian attraction were ignored, and that helium was yet blindfolded and taken to a determination wherever helium was held overnight. 

Director says helium feared helium would beryllium killed

The caput of the section assembly successful Susiya says the occupation began erstwhile settlers attacked a gathering taking spot for Iftar, which marks the extremity of the regular accelerated during Ramadan.   

Activists from a radical called the Center for Jewish Nonviolence called by villagers to the country said they were besides attacked by settlers, showing video to assorted quality agencies.  

Luski, the settler identified by Ballal, lives successful a adjacent colony outpost called past Susiya.  The Israeli quality rights radical B'tselem documented him harassing Ballal and different Palestinians past summer.

Ballal says helium has been threatened by Luski and different settlers before, but that this clip helium was genuinely acrophobic helium would beryllium killed.

"After the Oscar, it became worse," helium said.  

In effect to a query by CBC News, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said its soldiers had transferred 3 Palestinian "detainees" to constabulary "for questioning connected suspicion of stone hurling, spot harm and endangering determination security."  

The connection besides called claims that they had been beaten during the nighttime astatine an IDF detention installation "entirely baseless" and said that IDF forces "facilitated aesculapian treatment" for the detainees aft their transportation to the Israel police.  

'Why we made this movie'

Palestinians surviving successful the occupied territories person been faced with expanding levels of unit by hard-line Jewish settlers successful caller years, according to quality rights groups, particularly those surviving successful "outposts" linked to larger colony blocks.  

Palestinians, rights organizations and activistic groups who nonstop monitors to the West Bank accidental the Israeli service regularly fails to halt convulsive and intimidating behaviour by the settlers. 

The warfare successful Gaza has sparked a surge of unit successful the West Bank, with the Israeli subject carrying retired subject operations that person killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has been a emergence successful settler unit arsenic good arsenic Palestinian attacks connected Israelis. 

Asked if helium thinks his movie mightiness alteration things, Ballal said helium hopes so.

"Until present thing changed connected the ground," helium said. "But that's wherefore we made this movie."

LISTEN | Co-directors sermon Oscar triumph for No Other Land: