Oscar winner beaten and detained in Israeli-occupied West Bank

One of the makers of an Oscar-winning documentary about Palestinian communities in the West Bank was assaulted in the occupied territory on Monday, with his whereabouts unknown after he was detained by the Israeli military, his co-director said.

Hamdan Ballal, director of “No Other Land,” a joint Palestinian-Israeli production that won an Academy Award this year, was attacked by a group of Israeli settlers, Yuval Abraham wrote on X.

“They beat him in the head and all over his body,” Abraham related. “While wounded and bleeding, soldiers entered the ambulance he had called and arrested him.”

The IDF denied apprehending any Palestinian from inside an ambulance.

The incident occurred as dozens of Israeli settlers stormed the Palestinian village of Susiya in the southern West Bank, an area that features in Ballal’s documentary, activist group Center for Jewish Nonviolence told the Association Press. The group added that soldiers blindfolded Ballal and took him away.

Ballal “has since disappeared and it is unclear whether he is receiving medical treatment or what is happening to him,” Abraham added.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces told POLITICO that “several terrorists” threw rocks at Israeli citizens, then a scuffle involving “mutual rock-hurling between Palestinians and Israelis at the scene” ensued, after which the IDF and Israeli police forces arrived.

“The forces apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at them, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation,” said an IDF spokesperson. “The detainees were taken for further questioning by the Israel Police. An Israeli citizen was injured in the incident and was evacuated to receive medical treatment.”