Oscar-Winning Director Hamdan Ballal Arrested After Attack by Israeli Settlers in West Bank

Oscar-winning documentary director Hamdan Ballal, co-director of No Other Land, was arrested late on Monday following an attack by Israeli settlers in his village in the occupied West Bank. Ballal was injured during the raid, which took place in Susiya village, near Hebron, while he was attending an Iftar gathering at the end of the Ramadan fast.

According to Jihad Nawajaa, the head of the Susiya local council, a group of settlers attacked the gathering, leading young men to intervene. “Dozens of settlers attacked the gathering at Iftar. The young men came out to prevent them, and there were about eight injuries on our side,” Nawajaa reported. Israeli police arrested three men, including Ballal, during the standoff.

This incident is part of a broader pattern of Israeli settlers raiding Palestinian and Bedouin villages in the West Bank, sometimes to steal livestock. Palestinians and activists monitoring such attacks claim that police and the army often fail to intervene.

Ballal’s wife, Lamia, explained that settlers had surrounded their family house, and her husband went outside to stop them from breaking in. “The settlers attacked and started beating him, and then they arrested him. We do not know anything about him,” she said.

Activist Anna Lippman, a member of the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, reported that her group was also attacked shortly after arriving in the village. Lippman said, “Hamdan was blindfolded and handcuffed,” with other activists witnessing him being led to a military vehicle and driven away.