Miami Beach theater survives eviction threats over “No Other Land”
O Cinema in Miami Beach has survived eviction threats by the mayor sparked by his objections to Israeli-Palestinian film “No Other Land.”
Palestinian filmmaker and activist Hamdan Ballal, who co-directed the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” has reportedly gone missing after being attacked during an alleged ambush by Israeli settlers.
Basel Adra, who also served as a director on the political film, revealed Ballal was attacked by a group of settlers in the occupied West Bank on Monday before being detained by the Israeli military, according to The Associated Press, CNN and The Guardian.
“We came back from the Oscars and every day since there is an attack on us,” Adra told AP. “This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.”
Ballal and Adra’s fellow co-director Yuval Abraham took to social media to comment on the alleged attack and his colleague’s disappearance, writing on X that Ballal sustained injuries to his head and stomach.
In a statement sent to USA TODAY Tuesday, the Israeli Defense Forces said Monday that it had responded to an incident of “mutual rock hurling” between Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank village of Susya.
“IDF and Israeli Police forces arrived to disperse the confrontation, at this point, several terrorists began hurling rocks at the security forces,” wrote the IDF, Israel’s military force.
Following the incident, three Palestinians were detained along with one Israeli citizen, the IDF claims. Ballal was among the detainees.
According to Adra and several eyewitness accounts, Ballal was beaten by more than a dozen Israeli settlers. After Adra received a distressed phone call from Ballal, the filmmaker told CNN he arrived at Ballal’s home to see him and another person being abducted.
In an interview with AP, Adra said settlers entered Susya Monday evening shortly after residents broke the daily fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. A settler accompanied by military personnel allegedly walked over to Ballal’s home while soldiers shot in the air. Per Adra, soldiers subsequently took Ballal, handcuffed and blindfolded, from his home into a military vehicle.
Recalling the violence of the alleged attack, a spokesperson for the Center for Jewish Nonviolence told USA TODAY in an emailed statement Monday that Israeli settlers — many of whom were masked and carrying weapons that included batons, knives, and an assault rifle — attacked two homes, destroyed water tanks and stole security cameras.
A group of five Jewish American activists associated with the center became involved after responding “to calls to come and support the village of Susiya while it was under attack,” said Chase Carter, communications director for the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, in a statement to USA TODAY.
“As they arrived to Susiya, the settlers attacked the activists. When the activists returned to their car to seek shelter, the settlers surrounded the car, slashed its tires, and smashed the windows with stones,” Carter added.
Anna Lippman, a delegate for the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, told the Los Angeles Times that Ballal was taken by soldiers while receiving treatment in an ambulance for injuries to his head, along with two other Palestinian men.
In its statement, the IDF denied that any Palestinian “was apprehended from inside an ambulance.”
Ballal was then reportedly taken to a military base for further medical treatment, attorney Leah Tsemmel told AP, who was informed of Ballal’s status by police. Tsemmel has not been able to communicate with Ballal since the incident.
Produced by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, “No Other Land” follows the destruction of Masafer Yatta, Adra’s community in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The film won best documentary at the 97th Academy Awards earlier this month.
The documentary’s moment of Oscars glory came amid the protracted Israel-Hamas war, which kicked off in October 2023 when Hamas’ brutal invasion of Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the abduction of 250 hostages.
Miki Zohar, Israel’s cultural minister, called the “No Other Land” win a “sad moment for the world of cinema” on social media, writing, “Freedom of expression is an important value, but turning the defamation of Israel into a tool for international promotion is not art — it is sabotage against the State of Israel.”
Contributing: Anna Kaufman, George Petras, Shawn J. Sullivan, Janet Loehrke and Ramon Padilla, USA TODAY
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