Filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, one of the two Palestinian co-directors behind the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” was detained Monday in the occupied West Bank by the Israeli military after he was allegedly brutally attacked by settlers.
Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who co-directed “No Other Land,” wrote Monday on X that “a group of settlers just lynched” his collaborator. “They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding.”
“Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called, and took him,” Abraham added in his post, which was shared in English and Hebrew. “No sign of him since.”
Anna Lippman, a delegate for the activist group Center for Jewish Nonviolence who recorded and shared video of the attack Monday, told The Times via social media that more than a dozen settlers attacked the Palestinian village Susiya in the Masafer Yatta area, destroying property. During the attack Monday evening, Ballal was “injured by settlers.” He was receiving treatment in an ambulance for injuries to his head, which included swelling and bleeding, when “soldiers came and took him and two other Palestinian men from Susiya,” Lippman said.
“We do not know where he is or his condition,” she added Monday.
The Center for Jewish Nonviolence shared dashcam footage on Bluesky of someone shoving three people and punching one member of the group. The video later shows a person — whose face is covered by a mask — joined by several others, picking an object from the ground and hurling it at the vehicle, destroying the windshield. Video recorded and shared by Lippman shows an alternate angle of the confrontation.
Activist Josh Kimelman, who was present during the confrontation, told the Associated Press Monday, “We don’t know where Hamdan is because he was taken away in a blindfold.”
Abraham did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for additional comment.
In a statement shared to The Times, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said a “violent confrontation” broke out in Susiya after several people it described as “terrorists” allegedly hurled rocks at Israeli citizens and damaged their vehicles. The incident involved “mutual rock-hurling between Palestinians and Israelis at the scene,” the statement said. IDF said its members and Israel police responded “to disperse the confrontation,” and that the people it described as “terrorists” allegedly started hurling rocks their way.
IDF and Israel police detained three Palestinians and an Israeli person allegedly involved in the confrontation. The four detainees were taken for further questioning by Israel police and one Israeli person was evacuated to receive medical treatment, according to the statement. IDF also denied allegations that a Palestinian was detained from inside an ambulance.
The Times has confirmed that Ballal was indeed among the three people detained Monday evening. He was detained on suspicion of hurling rocks at IDF and police.
Support for Ballal poured in Monday afternoon as news of his detainment spread. Palestinian activist Basel Adra, who also co-directed and appears in “No Other Land,” tweeted about Ballal’s apprehension and shared a photo of a person with both hands behind their back being escorted into a vehicle adorned with an Israeli flag. He said his collaborator “is still missing after soldiers abducted him, injured and bleeding.”
He added: “This is how they erase Masafer Yatta.”
The International Documentary Assn. released a statement in support of Ballal, who they allege was “violently attacked and kidnapped in the West Bank,” and urged his release. The missive also demanded that the filmmaker’s family and community “be informed about his condition, location, and the justification for his detention.”
“No Other Land,” directed by Abraham, Ballal, Adra and Israeli filmmaker Rachel Szor, is a harrowing documentary that chronicles Israel’s demolition of Palestinian villages in Masafer Yatta to make way for an Israeli military training ground, displacing families and communities. The film won the documentary award at the 2025 Academy Awards.
Recently, “No Other Land” found itself in the center of tension in the Miami Beach cinema scene. Earlier this month, Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner threatened to pull grant funding from the O Cinema and end its lease on city-owned property if it screened the documentary. In a letter sent to the movie house, Meiner called the film “a one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents.”
Meiner withdrew his threats last week.
In a statement, Abraham hit back at Meiner’s previous criticism that “No Other Land” was “egregiously antisemitic.”
“When the mayor uses the word ‘antisemitism’ to silence Palestinians and Israelis who proudly oppose occupation and apartheid together, fighting for justice and equality, he is emptying it out of meaning. I find that to be very dangerous.
“Censorship is always wrong,” Abraham added. “We made this film to reach U.S. audiences from a wide variety of political views. I believe that once you see the harsh reality of occupation in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, it becomes impossible to justify it, and that’s why the mayor is so afraid of ‘No Other Land.’ It won’t work. Banning a film only makes people more determined to see it.”
Times staff writer Mark Olsen contributed to this report.
