Hamdan Ballal, a director of a documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was released a day after being attacked and arrested by Israeli settlers. This followed an attack by Israeli settlers on his village in the West Bank, during which Ballal was also injured.
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03-26, 2025Ballal is the co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land." He stated that he was attacked by settlers after filming them attacking his neighbor's house, as he was trying to ensure the safety of his own home. "I was just waiting outside in case settlers or the army attacked my house," he told Reuters after his release.
Ballal claimed that he was pushed to the ground, and soldiers yelled at him and pointed guns at him. "It's crazy, you can imagine your family, your kids are at home, and you need to protect them." He told the Associated Press in another interview that a settler walked up to his front door accompanied by fully armed Israeli soldiers.
Ballal alleged that the settler hit him in the head, knocking him to the ground, and began kicking his head like "kicking a soccer ball." He also stated that a soldier struck his leg with the butt of a gun. Ballal was arrested by Israeli security forces shortly after a group of settlers attacked an iftar gathering in the village of Susya, near Hebron.
Jihad Nawaja, head of the Susya local council, told Reuters: "Dozens of settlers attacked the iftar gathering." He added, "Young people came out to stop them, and about eight people were injured on our side." Israeli police arrested three people, including Ballal, who was injured in the confrontation.
Mr. Nawaja stated, "This is not the first time settlers have attacked our gatherings, but the attacks have increased recently." He also added that settlers stole about 10 sheep from the village during the attack. Monday's incident is the latest in a series of alleged attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian or Bedouin villages and camps in the West Bank, sometimes to steal livestock. Palestinians and activists who monitor such attacks say that police and the army often stand by and do not intervene.
The filmmaker's wife, Lamia Ballal, said that settlers gathered around their house, and her husband went out to stop them from breaking in. "The settlers attacked him, started beating him, and then they arrested him," she told Reuters. Anna Lipton, from a U.S.-Canadian group called the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, said her team arrived in the village about 15 minutes after the violence began and was then attacked by settlers.
The Israeli military stated that police and soldiers intervened after Palestinians threw stones at the vehicles of Israeli citizens and later at Israeli security forces. "In response, the forces arrested three Palestinians suspected of throwing stones at them, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation," the statement said. The military denied reports that at least one Palestinian was arrested in an ambulance.
When asked about Ballal's condition and an update on Tuesday, Israeli police sent the same statement first released by the military the previous evening. "No Other Land," a film about the expulsion of Palestinian communities by Israelis, co-directed by Palestinian and Israeli directors, won the Oscar for Best Documentary this year.
Ballal said that he was familiar with one of the settlers involved in the attack. "It's not the first time," he said. "He has attacked my house many times and has also grazed his cows in my garden." Basel Adra, another co-director of the film, said he believed the settlers brought the army to Ballal's house in retaliation for the film's portrayal of the Masafer Yatta area, near where Monday's incident occurred. "Because he was documenting what was happening with his camera, I think he was targeted and retaliated against in this way at night," he said.
European countries and the former U.S. President Joe Biden administration have imposed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, but the White House under President Donald Trump lifted those sanctions.
