Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal was brutally attacked by Israeli settlers and detained by Israeli soldiers just weeks after winning an Oscar for No Other Land, a documentary exposing Israeli dispossession in the West Bank. Despite honoring Ballal, the Academy has refused to speak out, even as other international film institutions have shown solidarity. This silence makes the Academy complicit in Israel's routine violence against and unjustified detainment of Palestinians. It reinforces the silencing of journalists in Gaza who are murdered by Israel for showing the reality of the genocide.
While governments and institutions crackdown on those who speak the truth, let’s show the Academy that we will not be silent when Palestinian filmmakers are punished for telling their story.
Sign the petition below to demand the Academy publicly condemn the violence against Ballal and the ongoing repression of Palestinian artists and those who stand with Palestine. Then join us Monday, March 31st, to deliver this petition in person.
We, the undersigned supporters of human rights and artistic freedom, are calling on the Academy to publicly denounce the brutalization and detention of Hamdan Ballal, co-director of No Other Land, the documentary that just won the 2025 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
On March 24, Ballal was attacked by Israeli settlers in his home village of Susiya, in the occupied West Bank, and later detained by Israeli soldiers. He was beaten, zip-tied, blindfolded, and hospitalized the next day. Soldiers mocked him about the Oscar during the assault. Despite this, the Academy has failed to stand by Ballal when he needs them most.
This silence is not neutral, by failing to speak out, the Academy is complicit in the routine violence and wrongful detainment of Palestinians by Israel. It adds to the silencing of journalists in Gaza who are murdered by Israel for showing the reality of the genocide. When the Academy chose to honor No Other Land, it recognized a film that courageously documented the systematic displacement of Palestinians. But when one of its creators — honored on your stage — was brutalized as a result of telling that story, you abandoned him.
Your justification, that Ballal was not the only Palestinian attacked and therefore the incident “could be unrelated to the film,” is both morally indefensible and deeply revealing. It suggests that the everyday violence Palestinians face makes them unworthy of specific recognition when targeted — even when those attacks are clearly tied to their visibility, voice, and art — all things you chose to honor Ballal for. Moreover, justifying the Academy's unwillingness to condemn such blatant repression and violence due to its representation of “11,000 global members with many unique viewpoints” is nothing short of an evasion of responsibility to do the right thing. From what viewpoint is state-sanctioned violence unworthy of condemnation?
Let us be clear: Hamdan Ballal was targeted not only for being Palestinian, but for being a Palestinian who dared to tell the truth on one of the world’s biggest stages. To ignore this is to be complicit in the erasure of the very people the Academy claimed to support just earlier this month.
We commend the European Film Academy, the 3,700 filmmakers who signed the petition calling for Ballal’s release, and the thousands across the globe who spoke out against this brutalization. Why are you silent? The Academy’s refusal to issue even a basic statement of concern is a stain on its commitment to artistic integrity.
No Other Land is not just a movie, it tells the story of real ethnic cleansing Palestinians face. The Academy's silence cannot be separated from the broader pattern of erasing Palestinian voices. While No Other Land wins awards across the globe, it has been denied distribution by major U.S. platforms like Netflix, Apple, and HBO. Screening venues have been harassed and threatened. Netflix has removed its “Palestinian Stories” page entirely. And still, the Academy "felt no need to respond."
We are asking you to change course now: Break the silence. Condemn the attack on Hamdan Ballal. Acknowledge the context of Israel’s occupation and the risk that Palestinian artists take just to tell the truth they experience every day.
Let your stance reflect the values you claim to uphold.