Latest news with #CenterforJewishNonviolence
CNN
31-03-2025
- CNN
Video shows Israeli settlers throwing rocks at activists in the West Bank
Footage released by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence and geolocated by CNN shows what the group says was a violent attack on its activists by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. The videos were captured in the area where director Hamdan Ballal was also allegedly assaulted on Monday. CNN's Nada Bashir reports.
Express Tribune
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Palestinian Oscar winner released after Israeli detention
Ballal said he had not expected such an attack after this year's Oscar win. Photo: AFP Israeli police released Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal on Tuesday, after detaining him a day earlier for "hurling rocks" following what activists described as an attack by settlers in the occupied West Bank, reported AFP. Basel Adra, who worked with Ballal on the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, posted a photo of Ballal on X after his release with blood stains on his shirt. "After I won the Oscar, I did not expect to be exposed to such attacks," Ballal said in a video by AFPTV. "It was a very strong attack and the goal was to kill." According to the Israeli military, three Palestinians were apprehended on Monday for "hurling rocks" during a confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians in the southern West Bank village of Susya. "Following this, a violent confrontation broke out, involving mutual rock hurling between Palestinians and Israelis," the military statement said. The village is located near Masafer Yatta, a grouping of hamlets south of Hebron city where No Other Land is set. The best documentary at this year's Academy Awards, No Other Land tells the story of forced displacement of Palestinians by Israeli troops and settlers in Masafer Yatta – an area Israel had declared a restricted military zone in the 1980s. A police spokesperson confirmed Ballal had been detained, while a later statement from the force said three people had been released on bail. The statement said they were being investigated "on suspicion of rock hurling, property damage and endangering regional security". 'Hitting me all over' Ballal said he had been attacked by a settler. "He was hitting me all over my body and there was also a soldier with him hitting me." Yuval Abraham, who co-directed No Other Land, said Ballal has injuries to the "head and stomach, bleeding". Activists from the anti-occupation group Center for Jewish Nonviolence said they witnessed the violence in Susya while there in an effort to deter settler violence. "This type of violence is happening on a regular basis," said Jenna, an American activist who declined to share her full name out of security concerns. She said that before Israeli forces arrived, a group of 15 to 20 settlers attacked the activists as well as Ballal's house in the village. Foreign activists regularly stay in Masafer Yatta's communities to accompany Palestinians as they tend to their crops or shepherd their sheep, and document instances of settler violence. Rights groups have said that since October 7, 2023, there has been a spike in attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Occupied by Israel since 1967, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as nearly half a million Israelis who live in settlements that are illegal under international law.
CBC
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
'It became worse' after Oscar win, says Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal detained by Israel
Oscar-winning Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal believes he is being deliberately targeted by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the occupied West Bank following the success of his film No Other Land, which won best documentary at the prestigious awards ceremony earlier this month. "Because of that, they're attacking me," he said in a telephone interview with CBC News, a day after he was released from a police station in the Israeli settlement of Qiryat Arba, near Hebron. "They punish me because I take this message [to the outside world]," he said from his home in Masafer Yatta, a cluster of Palestinian villages in the south Hebron hills. The film, which Ballal co-directed with fellow Palestinian Basel Adra and Israelis Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, documents Palestinians in Masafer Yatta living under occupation and struggling to hold on to their land. Israel captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan in 1967. Today, there are some 500,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank alone, even though they're considered illegal under international law by much of the world. About three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, and tensions have escalated during the war in Gaza. Ballal says he was detained after being badly beaten by a settler he identified as Shem Tov Luski and two soldiers after he'd been filming Israeli settlers harassing Palestinian villagers on Monday. He says his ordeal began around 6 p.m., when a fellow resident in his home village of Susiya phoned to alert him to the Israelis' presence. "When I got there, the settlers [were throwing] stones and destroyed the water tank, the cars there," he said. When Ballal left to check on his own family he says he was followed by Luski and the two soldiers, all armed, who continued beating him even when he had fallen to the ground. He says his requests for medical attention were ignored, and that he was eventually blindfolded and taken to a location where he was held overnight. Director says he feared he would be killed The head of the local council in Susiya says the trouble began when settlers attacked a gathering taking place for Iftar, which marks the end of the daily fast during Ramadan. Activists from a group called the Center for Jewish Nonviolence called by villagers to the scene said they were also attacked by settlers, showing video to various news agencies. Luski, the settler identified by Ballal, lives in a nearby settlement outpost called ancient Susiya. The Israeli human rights group B'tselem documented him harassing Ballal and other Palestinians last summer. Ballal says he has been threatened by Luski and other settlers before, but that this time he was genuinely afraid he would be killed. "After the Oscar, it became worse," he said. In response to a query by CBC News, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said its soldiers had transferred three Palestinian "detainees" to police "for questioning on suspicion of rock hurling, property damage and endangering regional security." The statement also called claims that they had been beaten during the night at an IDF detention facility "entirely baseless" and said that IDF forces "facilitated medical treatment" for the detainees after their transfer to the Israel police. 'Why we made this movie' Palestinians living in the occupied territories have been faced with increasing levels of violence by hard-line Jewish settlers in recent years, according to human rights groups, especially those living in "outposts" linked to larger settlement blocks. Palestinians, rights organizations and activist groups who send monitors to the West Bank say the Israeli army regularly fails to stop violent and intimidating behaviour by the settlers. The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in the West Bank, with the Israeli military carrying out military operations that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has been a rise in settler violence as well as Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Asked if he thinks his film might change things, Ballal said he hopes so. "Until now nothing changed on the ground," he said. "But that's why we made this movie."
Japan Times
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Oscar-winning Palestinian director injured in attack by Israeli settlers released after arrest
The Oscar-winning director of a documentary on the Israel-Palestinian conflict was released from detention on Tuesday, a day after being injured and arrested during a raid by Israeli settlers on his village in the occupied West Bank. Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the award-winning "No Other Land," said he had been assaulted by settlers after filming them attacking a neighbor's house and then returning to make sure his own house was not attacked. "I was just waiting outside, if any settlers or any army were attacking my home," he said after being released from police custody. He said he had been pushed to the ground, while soldiers yelled at him to stand up and pointed their guns at him. "It's crazy, you can imagine your family, your kids inside the home and you need to protect them," he said. Shortly before the incident, in which he ended up being arrested by Israeli security forces, a group of settlers attacked a gathering for Iftar, the end of the daily Ramadan fast, at Susiya village near Hebron. "Dozens of settlers attacked the gathering at Iftar," Jihad Nawajaa, head of the Susiya local council, said by phone. "The young men came out to prevent them, and there were about eight injuries on our side." Israeli police arrested three men, including Ballal, who was injured during the standoff. "This is not the first time that the settlers attacked our gathering, but in the recent period the attacks have increased," Nawajaa said, adding that the settlers had stolen around 10 sheep from the village during the attack. Monday's incident was the latest in which Israeli settlers have been accused of raiding Palestinian or Bedouin villages and encampments in the West Bank, sometimes to steal livestock. Palestinians and activists who monitor such attacks say the police and army typically stand by without intervening. Lamia Ballal, the filmmaker's wife, said settlers had gathered around the family house and her husband had gone outside to prevent them from breaking in. "The settlers attacked him and started beating him, and then they arrested him," she said. Anna Lippman, an American-Canadian from a group called the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, said her group had been attacked by settlers after arriving in the village around 15 minutes after the violence began. Hamdan Ballal (center right) with colleagues after winning the Oscar for best documentary feature for "No Other Land" on March 2 | Nina Westervelt / The New York Times The Israeli military said police and soldiers intervened after Palestinians threw rocks at the vehicles of Israeli citizens and later at Israeli security forces. "In response, the forces apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at them, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation," it said in a statement. It denied reports that at least one of the Palestinians was arrested in an ambulance. Asked for an update on Ballal's condition and status on Tuesday, the Israeli police sent the statement first issued by the army the previous night. "No Other Land," a film about Israeli displacement of a Palestinian community, co-directed by Palestinian and Israeli directors, won the Oscar for best documentary at this year's Academy Awards. Ballal said one of the settlers who took part in the assault was well known to him. "This is not the first time," he said. He has attacked my home many times and also has grazed his cows in the garden of my house." Basel Adra, one of the film's other co-directors, said he believed the settlers had taken the army to the family house as revenge for the film's depiction of the Masafer Yatta area near where Monday's incident occurred. "Because he carries his camera and documents what is going on, I think he is targeted and he was avenged this way at night," he said. European countries and the previous U.S. administration of President Joe Biden have imposed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, but under President Donald Trump, the White House has removed them.
Al Arabiya
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Arabiya
Israel releases Palestinian Oscar winner after West Bank detention
Israeli police released Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal on Tuesday after detaining him a day earlier for 'hurling rocks' following what activists described as an attack by settlers in the occupied West Bank. Basel Adra, who worked with Ballal on the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, posted a photo of Ballal on X after his release with bloodstains on his shirt. 'After I won the Oscar, I did not expect to be exposed to such attacks,' Ballal said in a video by AFPTV. 'It was a very strong attack, and the goal was to kill.' According to the Israeli military, three Palestinians were apprehended on Monday for 'hurling rocks' during a confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians in the southern West Bank village of Susya. 'Following this, a violent confrontation broke out, involving mutual rock hurling between Palestinians and Israelis,' the military statement said. The village is located near Masafer Yatta, a grouping of hamlets south of Hebron city where No Other Land is set. The best documentary at this year's Academy Awards tells the story of the forced displacement of Palestinians by Israeli troops and settlers in Masafer Yatta—an area Israel had declared a restricted military zone in the 1980s. A police spokesperson confirmed Ballal had been detained, while a later statement from the force said three people had been released on bail. The statement said they were being investigated 'on suspicion of rock hurling, property damage, and endangering regional security.' Ballal said he had been attacked by a settler. 'He was hitting me all over my body, and there was also a soldier with him hitting me.' Yuval Abraham, who co-directed No Other Land, said Ballal has injuries to the 'head and stomach, bleeding.' Activists from the anti-occupation group Center for Jewish Nonviolence said they witnessed the violence in Susya while there in an effort to deter settler violence. 'This type of violence is happening on a regular basis,' said Jenna, an American activist who declined to share her full name out of security concerns. She said that before Israeli forces arrived, a group of 15 to 20 settlers attacked the activists as well as Ballal's house in the village. Foreign activists regularly stay in Masafer Yatta's communities to accompany Palestinians as they tend to their crops or shepherd their sheep and document instances of settler violence. Rights groups have said that since the start of the Israel–Hamas war in Gaza—a separate Palestinian territory—there has been a spike in attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Occupied by Israel since 1967, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as nearly half a million Israelis who live in settlements that are illegal under international law.
