- Yuval Abraham accuses academy of failing to directly acknowledge incident without mentioning Ballal by name
- In the letter, the academy said that while it “condemns harming or suppressing artists for their work or their views,” it does not comment publicly on “social, political, and economic events.”
LONDON: No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham has condemned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its response to the brutal attack on his Palestinian co-director Hamdan Ballal.
An Israeli filmmaker and journalist accused the academy of failing to directly acknowledge the incident, noting that its statement did not mention Ballal by name.
This is the second time this week that Avraham has publicly criticized the academy. He previously condemned the institution for its silence over the attack in which Israeli settlers attacked Ballal before he was detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank on Monday.
“Following our criticism, academy leaders sent this email to members explaining their silence on Hamdan's attack: They needed to respect 'unique perspectives,'” Abraham wrote in X.
The academy’s letter said that while it “condemns harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints,” it does not comment publicly on “social, political, and economic events,” despite frequent requests to do so. “In these cases, it is important to note that the Academy represents approximately 11,000 members worldwide with many unique perspectives,” the statement said.
Abraham pointed out the contrast between that response and the academy's past actions, particularly its strong condemnation of Iran's detention of filmmakers like Jafar Panahi in 2011. “Contrast that,” he wrote, “which didn't even mention Hamdan by name, with the Academy's rightly strong stance when it comes to the Iranian government's harassment of filmmakers.”
The Academy has not yet provided further response.
Ballal, one of the documentary's four directors – two Israelis and two Palestinians – was released from Israeli custody on Tuesday.
In an interview with The Guardian, he described his ordeal as “I thought I was going to die” when Israeli soldiers helped settlers who attacked him outside his home in Susiya, a village in the Masafer Yatta area of the West Bank.
He also said he was beaten while in custody, calling the attack “revenge for our film.”
The global film community quickly condemned the attack and arrest. The U.S.-based International Documentary Film Association posted a message on Instagram demanding Ballal’s immediate release. The Berlin Film Festival, where “No Other Land” premiered and won the award for best documentary last year, called the incident “extremely distressing.”
