44 h. ago Academy apologises for failure to back Palestinian Oscar winner over attack

Letter signed by 700 members offers support to Hamdan Ballal after initial statement had failed to name directorThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has apologised after criticism for its failure to support the detained Palestinian Oscar winner Hamdan Ballal.Almost 700 voting members, including multiple A-list actors, signed a letter apologising for not directly acknowledgingBallal and the film by name. Continue reading...

Events

64 h. ago ‘This is no isolated event’: attack on Palestinian director brings rising settler violence into focus

Activists fear unprecedented levels of violence, with the apparent backing of Israeli authorities, part of drive to force Palestinians out of the West BankIt was around 6pm, just after its Palestinian residents had finished their daily Ramadan fast, dozens of masked Israeli settlers, armed with batons, knives and assault rifles, entered the West Bank village of Susiya in the rural Masafer Yatta area of the south Hebron hills. Among them were a group of Israeli soldiers who escorted the settlers into the village where Hamdan Ballal, one of the four directors of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, lives.About three weeks after appearing on stage at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles to accept the Oscar, Ballal has become the victim of the very violence shown in his film. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago From the Oscars to Israeli detention: the attack on No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal – podcast

What does the attack on an Oscar-winning Palestinian director say about the situation in the West Bank today? Adrian Horton and Lorenzo Tondo reportEarlier this month, No Other Land won the Oscar for best documentary feature. The film chronicles the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta as it resists being driven off its land by settler violence and the demolitions of the Israeli military. The film’s two protagonists, Palestinian film-maker Basel Adra and Israeli film-maker Yuval Abraham, gave speeches when they accepted their award.Yuval Abraham: “We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life There is a different path, a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people.” Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago ‘I thought I was going to die’: director Hamdan Ballal recounts attack by settlers in West Bank

Exclusive: Filmmaker who won an Oscar earlier this month says Israeli settlers were aided by IDF soldiers who beat him with their riflesDuring an attack on Oscar-winning Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal on Monday, Israeli settlers were aided by two Israel Defense Forces soldiers who beat him with the butt of their rifles outside his home and threatened to kill him, the film-maker has said.In an interview with the Guardian, Ballal, one of the four directors of the film No Other Land, which documented the destruction of villages in the West Bank and won best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, recounted how two Israeli soldiers first encircled him while a settler was assaulting him, before violently striking him on the head and threatening to shoot him. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago ‘It was revenge for our movie’: Oscar winner says soldiers helped settlers attack him in West Bank

Hamdan Ballal says Israeli soldiers beat him with their rifle butts and threatened to kill himThe Oscar-winning Palestinian film director Hamdan Ballal has said that during an attack on him Israeli settlers were aided by two Israeli soldiers who beat him with the butt of their rifles outside his home and threatened to kill him.In an interview with the Guardian, Ballal, one of the four directors of the film No Other Land, which documented the destruction of villages in the West Bank and won best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, recounted how on Monday two Israeli soldiers first encircled him while a settler was assaulting him, before violently striking him on the head and threatening to shoot him. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago British father who saw family massacred by Hamas stands to receive £10.5 MILLION from Palestine Authority in landmark ruling

Rabbi Leo Dee, originally from London, lost his wife Leah and daughters Rina, 15, and Maia, 20, in April 2023, after a terrorist sprayed them with bullets in a drive-by attack.

Economics

5 d. ago ‘Like a punishment’: witnesses describe Israeli settler attack on No Other Land director

Activists from Center for Jewish Nonviolence say Israeli police ‘did not intervene’ in attack on Hamdan BallalIt was shortly after Palestinian residents had finished their daily Ramadan fast that dozens of masked Israeli settlers entered the West Bank village of Susiya, according to witnesses.Some of the settlers were armed with batons, others had knives and one of them was holding an M-16 rifle, the witnesses told the Guardian. Among them were a group of Israeli soldiers who escorted the settlers inside the village. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Israeli strike at Gaza hospital kills five including senior Hamas figure

Ismail Barhoum and medics die in attack, which Israel says was based on extensive intelligenceAn Israeli airstrike on Sunday night hit the largest hospital in southern Gaza, killing five people, including a Hamas political leader and Palestinian medics, the militant group has said, in an attack that wounded others, causing a large fire.The Gaza health ministry said the strike hit the surgery department at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said its attack followed extensive intelligence and used precise munitions to minimise harm at the site. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Israeli strike at Gaza hospital kills five including Hamas political leader

Ismail Barhoum died in attack on Khan Younis, which Israel says followed extensive intelligenceAn Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza has killed five people, including a Hamas political leader and Palestinian medics, Hamas has said, in an attack Israel said had targeted a key figure in the militant group.The Gaza health ministry said the strike hit the surgery department at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said its attack followed extensive intelligence and used precise munitions to minimise harm at the site. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Florida mayor drops threat to evict cinema over No Other Land screening

The Oscar-winning film, about a Palestinian community resisting displacement and violence from Israeli forces, has become the latest focus of a culture war in the stateAfter a week of controversy, the mayor of Miami Beach decided to withdraw his initial proposal to cancel the lease and block a small cinema’s funding due to its screening of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.Residents packed city hall to make public comments, and regardless of their backgrounds and opinions, the majority, including city commissioners, agreed that censorship, eviction and defunding of O Cinema were not the answer or the path forward. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Netanyahu says he will seek to dismiss the head of Israel's internal security service

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will bring a vote to the government this week to dismiss the director of the Shin Bet internal security service

Politics

2 w. ago Trump condemned for using ‘Palestinian’ as slur to attack Schumer

US president said of Senate minority leader: ‘He’s not Jewish any more. He’s a Palestinian’Donald Trump has been condemned by a leading US Muslim civil rights group for seeking to use the word “Palestinian” as an insult when he attacked the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, as “not Jewish any more”.“President Trump’s use of the term ‘Palestinian’ as a racial slur is offensive and beneath the dignity of his office,” said Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or Cair. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump administration briefing: Mahmoud Khalil’s detention, ‘Trumpcession’ fears and gutting USAid

From cries of ‘McCarthyism’ over Palestinian activist’s detention to fears over a ‘Trumpcession’ – key US politics stories from Monday at a glanceThe Trump administration’s decision to have immigration authorities arrest pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil for alleged support of Hamas is an attack on free speech, the American Civil Liberties Union warned on Monday.“This arrest is unprecedented, illegal, and un-American,” said Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago FBI committed to bringing home American hostages held in foreign countries, director says

FBI Director Kash Patel says the bureau will work to “zero out” the population of Americans detained or held hostage in foreign countries

Events