Israel releases Oscar-winning #Palestinian director after he was attacked by West Bank settlers

By JULIA FRANKEL
Updated 11:55 AM EDT, March 25, 2025

HEBRON, #WestBank (AP) — "#Israeli authorities released an Oscar-winning Palestinian director who was detained by the army after being attacked by #JewishSettlers in the occupied West Bank. He said they beat him in front of his home while they filmed the assault.

"#HamdanBallal and the other directors of '#NoOtherLand,' which looks at the struggles of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, had mounted the stage at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles earlier this month when it won the award for best documentary film.

"On Tuesday, with bruises on his face and blood on his clothes, he was released from an Israeli police station in the West Bank settlement of #KiryatArba. He and two other Palestinians who had been attacked and detained were taken to a nearby hospital.

"Ballal said he was held at an army base, blindfolded for 24 hours and forced to sleep under a freezing air conditioner.

"'All my body is pain,' he told The Associated Press. “I heard the voices of the soldiers, they were laughing about me … I heard ‘Oscar’ but I didn’t speak Hebrew.'

"Lea Tsemel, the attorney representing the three men, said they received only minimal care for their injuries from the attack and that she had no access to them for several hours after their arrest."

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-violence-settlers-oscar-hamdan-ballal-beb96478a55f42a7058a60ac5be7bd05
#IDFTerrorism #IsraeliWarCrimes #BibiIsAWarCriminal #FreePalestine #FreeGaza #IsraeliSettlers

#OscarWinning #Palestinian Film Co-Director Attacked by #IsraeliSettlers, Detained

March 25, 2025

"#HamdanBallal, the Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary #NoOtherLand, was attacked by illegal #Israeli Jewish settlers in the occupied #WestBank, Al-Jazeera Arabic website, and other sources reported on Monday.

"His fellow co-director, #YuvalAbraham, shared the details of the assault on social media, stating, 'A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal, co-director of our film No Other Land. They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding.'

"Ballal was severely beaten by the settlers and called for an ambulance. However, the situation took a dire turn when Israeli soldiers intervened and forcibly took him away.

"Abraham further explained, 'Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called, and took him. No sign of him since.' As of now, there has been no information on Ballal’s whereabouts, leaving his colleagues and supporters increasingly concerned for his safety.

"No Other Land is a collaboration between Palestinian and #Israeli filmmakers that documents the destruction of #MasaferYatta, a village in the West Bank, by Israeli military forces.

"The documentary has won international acclaim, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. However, the film has also faced backlash and controversy, especially in Israel.

"A video released by the #CenterForJewishNonviolence shows masked settlers attacking Jewish activists with stones and sticks. The activists, including those filming the incident, were targeted and their car windows were smashed.

"One of the activists, Josh Kimelman, spoke to the Associated Press, stating, 'We don’t know where Hamdan is because he was taken away in a blindfold.' The Israeli military has claimed that it is investigating the incident but has not provided any additional information on the matter."

https://www.palestinechronicle.com/oscar-winning-palestinian-film-co-director-attacked-by-israeli-settlers-detained/
#IDFTerrorism #IsraeliWarCrimes #BibiIsAWarCriminal #FreePalestine #FreeGaza

#Israel’s “Culture of Cruelty” Inspires the #FarRight Worldwide, Says #PankajMishra

“The World After Gaza” author on what Israel’s war reveals about power, violence, and who sets the rules on the world stage.

The Intercept Briefing
March 22 2025, 6:00 a.m.

"After breaking a two-month ceasefire, Israel launched an assault on #Gaza on Tuesday, killing more than 400 people in pre-dawn strikes. The death toll continues to climb as airstrikes persist, and Israel pushes forward with a ground invasion. At least 200 children have been killed in recent attacks, according to UNICEF.
The assault — the deadliest in over a year — came after Donald #Trump gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu the green light to break the #ceasefire. Netanyahu has warned, 'This is only the beginning.'

"Author Pankaj Mishra argues Israel operates within a 'culture of impunity,' emboldened by global #FarRight movements that admire Israel’s 'brazen cruelty.'

"This week on The Intercept Briefing, reporter Jonah Valdez speaks to Mishra about his latest book, 'The World After Gaza,' which examines how the war on Gaza isn’t just another conflict — it’s a turning point reshaping global politics, exposing institutional failures, and forcing a reckoning over who sets the rules on the world stage.

"'Some of the worst people in the world today are drawn to Israel,' Mishra says.

"Not because they believe in Zionism, not because they are protective of Jewish population of Israel, but because Israel again represents to them — embodies this opportunity to take whatever you can and hold on to it using extreme violence if necessary.'"

Original article:
https://theintercept.com/2025/03/22/briefing-podcast-pankaj-mishra-gaza/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/StP9q

Link to podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intercept-briefing/id1195206601
https://open.spotify.com/show/2js8lwDRiK1TB4rUgiYb24?si=e3ce772344ee4170&nd=1&dlsi=51695dbdc8454ade

So, I called the death of #AysenurEygi to be an assassination by the #IDF. Given what's going on with #MahmoudKhalil, I stand by that statement.
#IsraeliWarCrimes #IDFTerrorism #USPol #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #StandWithStandingRock #StandWithPalestine #Protestors #HumanRightsViolations

Memphis Police Chief Trained With Israel Security Forces

Chief Cerelyn Davis also led the first police department in the U.S. that swore off the exchanges.

Alice Speri, February 2 2023

"The death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers last month once again ignited outrage over the violent, militarized nature of U.S. law enforcement and placed scrutiny on police departments’ bloated budgets.

"Among the objections to policing that are being revived are criticisms of a controversial series of trainings and exchange programs for U.S. police in Israel. Scores of American law enforcement leaders have attended the programs, where they learned from Israeli police and security forces known for systemically abusing the #HumanRights rights of #Palestinians."

https://theintercept.com/2023/02/02/memphis-police-israel/

#Israel using internationally banned bombs in #Lebanon, chemists union says

October 7, 2024

"The Syndicate of Chemists in Lebanon (#SCL) warned yesterday that the extent of destruction and the depth of damage to buildings and the ground confirms the use of internationally banned bombs containing #DepletedUranium by #Israeli forces, warning of the risk of contracting many diseases as a result of inhaling the [#radioactive] dust caused by the bombing.

"It said in a 'very important warning” that it condemns “the barbaric aggression against civilians in Lebanon and the massacres being committed against the Lebanese people,' noting that the warning aims 'to raise awareness about the effects of inhaling the dust from Israeli bombings in several Lebanese areas.'

"'The extent of destruction and the penetration of buildings and ground by dozens of metres is evidence of the use of #bombs containing depleted #uranium, which has tremendous penetrating power,' it added.

"The SCL stressed that “the use of such types of internationally banned weapons, especially in densely populated #Beirut, leads to massive destruction, and their dust causes many diseases, especially when inhaled.'

"The SCL called on 'the international community to stop the aggression against Lebanon, and to stop the use of internationally banned bombs.'

"It also called on the Lebanese state to file a lawsuit with the #UNSecurityCouncil 'against the violations taking place on Lebanese soil and the attempted mass killings of innocent #civilians.'"

Read more:
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241007-israel-using-internationally-banned-bombs-in-lebanon-chemists-union-says/

#IsraeliAirstrikes Target Medical Facility, Kill Five Health Ministry Workers

By Niko Georgiades, #UnicornRiot

October 2, 2024

#Gaza, Palestine — "More than 1,150 Palestinians working in the health sector in Gaza have been killed by #Israeli forces since Oct. 7, 2023 — one of many atrocities inflicted upon #Palestinians over the last year. Two weeks ago, 986 health workers who’ve been killed were named publicly. Four days later, on Sept. 21, five #GazaHealthMinistry (#GHM) workers were killed when Israel bombed a medical storage facility in the southern Gaza Strip.

"As of Wednesday, nearly 41,700 Palestinians are officially listed by the GHM as being killed by Israel over the last year in the bombarded #GazaStrip and over 96,625 have been injured. A massive part of the two-plus million Palestinian residents in Gaza have been forcibly displaced."

Read more:
https://unicornriot.ninja/2024/israeli-airstrikes-target-medical-facility-kill-five-health-ministry-workers/

#Israel’s Bloody Record of Bombing #Schools in #Gaza

Israel has bombed nearly 85 percent of Gaza’s schools in the past year, killing hundreds of children and displaced #Palestinians.

Nick Turse
October 6 2024

"Israel keeps bombing schools.

An Israeli attack on a school for orphans in #GazaCity on Wednesday killed several people, mostly children and women, sheltering there after being displaced by previous #IsraeliStrikes.

"Late last month, an Israeli attack on a school filled with thousands of displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza killed at least 15 people.

"Days earlier, an attack on another school-turned-shelter in Gaza City killed 22 people, mostly women and children, who had sought refuge there. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked schools, alleging that Hamas uses them as 'command centers.' Hamas denies the charges.

"Israel is committing '#scholasticide,' the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Palestinian education system in Gaza, according to a recent report by the Al Mezan Center for #HumanRights, a Palestinian advocacy group. Gaza has become the most dangerous place in the world to be a child, according to UNICEF. Over the course of the last year, Israeli attacks have killed or wounded tens of thousands of schoolchildren, university students, and teachers, and Israel has repeatedly bombed schools serving as supposed safe zones for people forced from their homes.

"The war in Gaza will set children’s education back by up to five years and risks creating a lost generation of permanently #traumatized Palestinian youth, according to another new report from researchers at the University of Cambridge, the Centre for Lebanese Studies, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or #UNRWA.

"'The current war in Gaza is unlike any other war in recent times. Current understandings of protracted crises and wars have not encountered a context of multiple displacements, loss of life and injury, and the scale of destruction and damage to civilian infrastructure, including education spaces and learning opportunities as witnessed in Gaza,' reads the study, which published last month.

"Israeli attacks have killed at least 10,490 school and university students and injured another 16,700, while more than 500 schoolteachers and university educators have also been killed, according to the Al Mezan Center. For almost an entire year, the children of Gaza have been unable to attend school. All educational facilities in Gaza have remained closed, and hundreds of school buildings have been damaged or destroyed."

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2024/10/06/israel-bombing-schools-children-gaza-education/

From Pine Ridge to Palestine: Indigenous Solidarity in the Ceasefire Movement - An Interview with Nick Tilsen, who is #Jewish and #OgalaLakota

by Cristina Veran
February 2024

"My Grandpa Ken always believed—and I also believe—that #Zionism was, and will always be, at odds with justice, so that has long been part of my political orientation.

"I am not against Jewish People having their own land, at all. What I am against is [#Israel as] a #SettlerColonial government that, by design, violates other people’s #HumanRights and becomes an avenue for #imperialism. For Jews out there who see Zionism as some kind of Indigenous rights movement, I say, 'You are misguided.' That movement is leading to #fascism, to the very things that are against #IndigenousValues about the interdependency that we all have as Peoples. In the #Lakota language, we say ‘#MitákuyeOyásiŋ’—we are all related."

Read more:
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/pine-ridge-palestine-indigenous-solidarity-ceasefire-movement-interview-nick-tilsen

When I saw this on the news, the first thing I thought was #Israel. Any country who has no problems unleashing #Stuxnet (with help from the #CIA), and bombing #HumanitarianAidWorkers and civilians has no problems with making pagers blow up, injuring innocents and children!

Pager detonations wound thousands, majority Hezbollah members, in suspected #cyberattack

Lebanon's Health Ministry said that over 2,750 people have been wounded, 200 critically, and eight killed in the explosions.

By Yonah Jeremy Bob, September 17, 2024

"A Hezbollah official cited by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said that hundreds of [Hezbollah] members had such #pager devices, and speculated that #malware could have caused the device to heat up and explode. The same official cited by the WSJ reported that some people felt the pagers heat up, disposing of them before they exploded."

#Iranian ambassador #MojtabaAmani was reportedly injured in the explosion, according to state-owned Mehr News.

"Hezbollah said that the detonations of pagers used by the group killed two of its fighters and one girl, without directly accusing Israel of being behind the operation.

"It said that it was carrying out an investigation to determine the causes of the blasts."

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-820536#google_vignette