Israeli settlers beat producer of Oscar-winning movie about Israeli settlers

As reported by The Guardian, Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land was arrested Tuesday 25 March 2025 by the Israeli army after masked settlers attacked his house. According to five Jewish American activists who witnessed the attack, Hamdan Ballal, one of the four directors of the the film that documented the destruction of villages in the West Bank, was surrounded and attacked by a group of about 15 armed settlers in Susya in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron.

“They started throwing stones towards Palestinians and destroyed a water tank near Hamdan’s house,” said Joseph, of the activists from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, who asked not to use his full name for security reasons.

The witnesses said that a group of soldiers arrived at the scene alongside other settlers dressed in military uniform, who chased Hamdan to his house and handed him over to the military. ‘‘The settlers destroyed his car with stones and slashed one of the tyres,’’ another witness, Raviv, told the Guardian. ‘‘All the windows and windshields were broken.’’